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£>tate0man  edition  VOL.  VI 


Charles  Sumner 

HIS     COMPLETE    WORKS 


iitfi  Intro tmction 

BY 

HON.   GEORGE   FRISBIE    HOAR 


BOSTON 
LEE    AND    SHEPARD 

MCM 


59333 


COPYRIGHT,  1872, 

BY 

CHARLES   SUMNER. 

COPYRIGHT,  1900, 

BY 
LEE   AND   SHEPARD. 


Statesman  l£tittton. 

LIMITED  TO  ONE  THOUSAND  COPIES. 
OF  WHICH  THIS  18 


.  /A 


Nortooofl  lU 
NORWOOD,  MASS.,  U.S.A. 


5  .    4 

S  9  5 
v.     G 


CONTENTS   OF  VOLUME  VI. 


PACK 

APPEAL  FOR  THE  REPUBLICAN  CANDIDATES.      Letter  to  the 

Republican  Committee  at  Boston,  June  21,  1856     .        .        1 

LONGING  FOR  RESTORATION  TO  ACTIVE  DUTIES,  WITH  APPEAL 
TO  THE  YOUNG  MEN  OF  MASSACHUSETTS.  Letter  to  the 
Committee  of  a  Young  Men's  Convention  at  Fitchburg, 
August  5,  1856 6 

APPEAL  TO  THE  REPUBLICANS  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.     Letter  to 

a  Committee,  September  4,  1856 9 

CONTRIBUTION  FOR  KANSAS.     Letter  to  Messrs.  Greeley  and 

McElrath,  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  September  23,  1856,      10 

REGRET  FOR  CONTINUED  DISABILITY.     Letter  to  Hon.  Lewis 

D.  Campbell,  of  Ohio,  September  24,  1856      ...       11 

EFFECT  OF  A  VOTE  FOR  BUCHANAN  :  APPEAL  TO  THE  REPUB- 
LICANS OF  ILLINOIS.  Letter  to  a  Committee  of  Republi- 
cans at  Joliet,  October  2,  1856 13 

APPEAL  FOR  THE  REPUBLICAN  CAUSE.  Letter  to  a  Commit- 
tee of  Hudson  River  Counties,  Poughkeepsie,  New  York, 
October  3,  1856 16 

RELIEF  FOR  KANSAS.     Letter  to  a  Committee  of  the  Kansas 

Aid  Society  at  Boston,  October  3,  1856    ....      18 

DUTY  TO  VOTE  FOR  KANSAS  AND  FOR  BCRLINGAME.     Letter 

to  a  Meeting  at  Faneuil  Hall,  October  29,  1856        .        .      20 

PUBLIC   RECEPTION  OF  MR.    SUHNER,  ON   HIS   RETURN  TO 

BOSTON  :  WITH  THE  SPEECHES  :  November  3,  1856  .        .      22 
iii 


iv  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

AID  FOR  KANSAS.     Letter  to  Hon.  M.  F.  Conway,  November 

17,  1866 40 

CONGRATULATION  ON  REELECTION  OF  ANSON  BURLINGAMK  AS 
REPRESENTATIVE  IN  CONGRESS.  Letter  to  a  Banquet  at 
Faneuil  Hall,  November  24,  1856 41 

LATE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  OUR  BUNKER  HILL.      Letter 

to  a  Committee  at  Worcester,  November  24,  1856    .        .      43 

LET  MASSACHUSETTS  HELP  KANSAS.  Letter  to  James  Red- 
path,  Esq.,  January  10,  1857 44 

ACCEPTANCE  OF  SENATORSHIP,  ON   REELECTION.      Letter  to 

the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  January  22,  1857        .      46 

GRATITUDE  FOR  SYMPATHY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  VERMONT. 
Letter  to  Hon.  Ryland  Fletcher,  Governor  of  Vermont, 
March  7,  1857 52 

A  LAST  WORD  FOR  KANSAS,  ON  SAILING  FOR  EUROPE.     Let- 
ter to  James  Redpath,  Esq.,  March  7,  1857      ...       54 

INVITATION  TO  DINNER  BY  AMERICAN  MERCHANTS  IN  PARIS. 

Letter  to  the  American  Merchants  at  Paris,  April  20, 1857      66 

OUR  POLITICS  SEEN  FROM  A  DISTANCE.     Letter  to  a  Friend, 

dated  Heidelberg,  September  11,  1857      ....      60 

FAREWELL  ON  SAILING  FOR  EUROPE  A  SECOND  TIME  IN  QUEST 
OF  HEALTH.  Letter  to  the  People  of  Massachusetts,  on 
Board  Steamer  Vanderbilt,  New  York  Harbor,  May  22, 
1858 62 

HONOR  TO  THE  INVENTOR  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  TELEGRAPH. 
Letter  to  Professor  Morse,  in  excusing  himself  from  a 
Dinner  at  Paris,  August  17,  1858 64 

LONGING  FOR  DUTIES  OF  POSITION.    From  a  Letter  to  a  Friend, 

dated  at  Aix,  Savoy,  September  11,  1858         ...       65 

INDEPENDENCE  AND  UNITY  OF  ITALY.      Letter  to   a  Public 

Meeting  at  New  York,  February  17,  1860         ...      67 


CONTENTS.  V 

FAGB 

Two  LESSONS  FROM  THE  LIFE  OF  WASHINGTON.  Letter  to 
the  Washington  Monument  Association  of  the  First  School 
District  of  Philadelphia,  February  21,  1860  ...  70 

MACAULAY  ON  SLAVERY.     Communication  to  the  New  York 

Tribune,  March  3,  1860    .        .        .        ...        ,71 

STATUE  OF  HORACE  MANN.     Letter  to  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Howe, 

March  5,  1860  .        .        .  ...        .        .78 

USURPATION  OF  THE  SENATE  IN  IMPRISONING  A  CITIZEN. 
Two  Speeches,  on  the  Imprisonment  of  Thaddeus  Hyatt 
for  refusing  to  testify  in  the  Harper's  Ferry  Investigation, 
in  the  Senate,  March  12,  and  June  15,  1860  ...  80 

ABOLITION   OF  CUSTOM-HOUSE  OATHS.      Resolution  in  the 

Senate,  March  15,  1860     .        .        •       .        .        .        .95 

BOSTON  COMMON,  AND  ITS  EXTENSION.     Letter  to  George  H. 

Snelling,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  March  26,  1860       .  -.      96 

ATTEMPT  TO  KIDNAP  A  CITIZEN  UNDER  ORDER  OF  THE 
SENATE.  The  Case  of  Frank  B.  Sanborn,  of  Concord, 
Massachusetts,  with  Speeches  in  the  Senate,  April  10, 13, 
and  16,  1860  .  . 99 

PETITIONS  AGAINST  SLAVERY.    Speech  in  the  Senate,  April  18, 

1860 106 

SAFETY   OF   PASSENGERS    IN   STEAMSHIPS   FOR    CALIFORNIA. 

Resolution  and  Remarks  in  the  Senate,  May  21,  1860      .     109 

CANDIDATES  WHO  ARE  A  PLATFORM.  Letter  to  a  Ratifica- 
tion Meeting  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  May  30,  1860  .  .  Ill 

THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.     Speech  in  the  Senate,  on  Bill 

for  Admission  of  Kansas  as  a  Free  State,  June  4,  1860  .     113 

A  VICTORY  OF  PRINCIPLE  IN  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION. 
Letter  to  a  Public  Meeting  at  Middleborough,  Massachu- 
setts, June  11,  1860  . 287 

REFUSAL  TO  COLORED  PERSONS  OF  RIGHT  OF  PETITION. 
Notes  of  Undelivered  Speech  in  the  Senate,  on  Resolution 
refusing  to  receive  Petition  from  Citizens  of  Massachu- 
setts of  African  Descent,  June  16,  1860  ....  288 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAOK 

THE  LATE  HONORABLE  JOHN  SCHWARTZ,  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 
Speech  in  the  Senate,  on  Resolutions  in  Tribute  to  him, 
June  21,  1860 300 

UNHESITATING  ASSERTION  OF  OCR  PRINCIPLES.     Letter  to  the 

Republicans  of  New  York  City,  June  27,  1860  .        .        .302 

THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  :  ITS  ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PER- 
MANENCE. Speech  before  the  Young  Men's  Republican 
Union  of  New  York,  at  Cooper  Institute,  July  11,  1860  .  303 

OCR  CANDIDATES  WILL  BE  ELECTED.     Letter  to  the  Lincoln 

and  Hamlin  Club  of  Owego,  New  York,  July  30,  1860      .    342 

EMANCIPATION  IN  THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES  A  BLESSING, 
AND  NOT  A  FAILCRE.  Letter  to  a  Public  Meeting  at 
Framingham,  Massachusetts,  July  30,  1860  .  .  .  343 

SLAVERY  A  BARBAROUS  DISEASE  TO  BE  STAYED.  Letter  to 
a  Republican  Meeting  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Repub- 
lican Wigwam  in  New  York,  August  6,  1860  .  .  .  346 

TRIBUTE  TO  A  COLLEGE  CLASSMATE.     Remarks  on  the  Late 

John  W.  Browne,  August  20,  1860 348 

PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES.  Speech  at  the 
State  Convention  of  the  Republican  Party  at  Worcester, 
August  29,  1860 352 


LETTER  TO  THE  REPUBLICAN  COMMITTEE  AT  BOSTON, 
JONE  21,  1856. 


APPEAL  FOR  THE  REPUBLICAN  CANDIDATES. 

LETTER  TO  THE  REPUBLICAN  COMMITTEE  AT  BOSTON, 
JUNE  21,  1856. 


THE  selection  of  a  Republican  candidate  for  the  Presidency  gave  rise 
to  the  customary  discussion  in  the  newspapers,  in  the  course  of  which 
the  New  York  Tribune,  under  date  of  June  6,  1856,  expressed  itself  as 
follows. 

"  The  People's  Convention,  which  assembles  at  Philadelphia  on  the  17th 
instant,  will  be  called  first  to  decide  this  question:  Can  the  opponents  of 
Slavery  Extension  elect  whomsoever  they  may  choose  to  nominate  f  If,  on  a 
careful  comparison  of  views,  this  question  can  be  confidently  answered  in 
the  affirmative,  we  have  next  to  consider  who,  by  early,  earnest,  faithful, 
protracted,  unswerving  service  to  the  cause,  has  done  most  for  the  tri- 
umph of  Humanity  and  Impartial  Freedom ;  and  in  that  view  but  three 
names  can  be  seriously  considered,  namely,  those  of  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD, 
of  New  York,  SALMON  P.  CHASE,  of  Ohio,  and  CHARLES  SUMNEK,  of  Massa- 
chusetts. They  are  all  capable,  reliable,  and  deserving,  and  either  of  them 
would  worthily  fill  the  highest  office  in  the  Republic.  We  will  not  weigh 
their  respective  claims,  but  we  shall  support  to  the  utmost  of  our  ability 
whichever  (if  either)  of  them  shall  be  nominated." 

The  Republican  National  Convention  assembled  at  Philadelphia, 
June  17,  1856,  and  chose  Henry  S.  Lane,  of  Indiana,  as  presiding 
officer.  At  an  informal  ballot  for  President  there  were  359  votes  for 
John  C.  Fremont  and  196  for  John  McLean  ;  New  York  also  gave  two 
votes  for  Mr.  Sumner  and  one  for  Mr.  Seward.  Mr.  Fremont  was 
thereupon  nominated  unanimously.  At  an  informal  ballot  for  Vice- 
President  there  were  259  votes  for  William  L.  Dayton,  110  for  Abraham 
Lincoln,  46  for  N.  P.  Banks,  43  for  David  Wilmot,  35  for  Charles 
Sumner,  15  for  Jacob  Collainer,  9  for  John  A.  King,  8  for  S.  C. 
Pomeroy,  7  for  Thomas  Ford,  5  for  Henry  Wilson,  4  for  Cassius  M. 
Clay,  3  for  Henry  C.  Carey,  2  for  J.  R.  Giddings,  2  for  W.  F.  John- 
ston, and  1  for  A.  C.  M.  Pennington.  On  a  formal  ballot,  Mr.  Dayton 
was  nominated  unanimously. 


APPEAL  FOE   THE  REPUBLICAN   CANDIDATES.  3 

Mr.  Stunner,  who  was  at  the  time  a  guest  of  Francis  P.  Blair,  at  his 
place  near  Washington,  addressed  the  following  letter  to  a  meeting  at 
Faneuil  Hall,  in  Boston,  for  the  ratification  of  the  nominations. 


SILVER  SPRING  (near  WASHINGTON),  June  21,  1856. 

MY  DEAK  SIE,  —  I  am  not  strong  enough  for  pub- 
lic speaking,  even  if  I  were  strong  enough  for  a 
journey  to  Boston.  Besides,  my  duties  in  the  Senate 
have  the  first  claim  upon  me,  and  to  them  I  must 
give  my  first  returning  strength.  Therefore  am  I  con- 
strained to  decline  the  invitation  with  which  you  have 
honored  me. 

But  I  am  strong  enough  to  send  from  my  present 
retreat  a  brief  expression  of  cordial  concurrence  in  the 
nominations  made  by  the  People's  Convention  at  Phil- 
adelphia, and  also  of  the  gladness  with  which  I  shall 
support  them,  by  voice  and  vote,  with  mind  and  heart 

I  have  long  honored  Colonel  Fremont  for  his  genius 
in  geographical  enterprise,  his  eminent  intelligence,  his 
manly  fortitude,  his  perfect  integrity,  and  his  easy  com- 
mand of  men,  —  swaying  to  his  own  beneficent  purpose 
even  the  savages  of  the  forest,  while  Nature  herself,  in 
her  winter  fastnesses,  bowed  before  his  march.  It  is 
well,  at  this  moment,  when  a  Great  Crime  is  instigated 
and  sustained  by  the  National  Government,  that  such 
a  man,  with  courage  which  will  not  be  questioned,  and 
with  sensitiveness  to  right  which  will  not  rest,  should 
be  summoned  to  grapple  with  the  wrong-doers.  And 
permit  me  to  say  that  I  find  no  force  in  the  objec- 
tion that  he  has  never  been  a  politician. 

Your  candidate  for  Vice-President  is  worthy  to  enjoy 
the  same  enthusiastic  support.  As  lawyer,  as  judge, 
and  as  Senator,  Mr.  Dayton  has  been  conspicuous  for 


4  APPEAL  FOR  THE  BEPUBLICAN   CANDIDATES. 

character  and  ability;  and  I  rejoice  to  believe  that  he 
will  soon  have  a  larger  field  of  activity,  where  these 
can  be  employed  for  the  good  of  our  common  country, 
while  the  Senate,  which  is  the  stronghold  of  Human 
Slavery,  will  be  compelled  to  receive  as  its  presiding  of- 
ficer a  representative  of  Human  Freedom. 

But  better  even  than  the  candidates  is  the  Declara- 
tion of  Principles,  under  which  we  now  go  forth  to  con- 
quer. Such  a  Declaration,  promulgated  by  such  a  Con- 
vention, is  in  itself  the  beginning  of  victory.  Strong 
in  simplicity  and  truthfulness,  it  must  prevail  just  so 
soon  as  it  is  comprehended.  It  expresses  objects  which 
should  enlist  the  Conservative,  while  they  enlist  the 
Reformer, —  which  should  rally  all  who  turn  with  re- 
spect to  the  example  of  the  Fathers,  while  they  rally 
all  who  are  filled  with  aspirations  for  a  brighter  future 
on  earth.  It  proposes  to  save  Kansas  from  the  revolt- 
ing usurpation  established  in  that  fair  Territory,  and 
in  this  good  work  it  joins  issue  with  the  Slave  Oli- 
garchy, now  swaying  our  whole  country;  so  that,  in 
saving  Kansas,  we  shall  necessarily  overthrow  this  Des- 
potism, and  save  ourselves.  For  support,  it  appeals 
to  all,  without  distinction  of  party,  who  love  their  coun- 
try. It  appeals  to  the  true  Democrat,  whose  democracy 
is  founded  on  the  recognition  of  Human  Eights ;  it  ap- 
peals to  the  true  Whig,  who  is  animated  by  that  hatred 
of  despotic  power  which  inspired  those  who  earliest 
wore  the  name ;  it  appeals  to  the  true  American,  who 
is  ready  to  forget  all  other  questions  for  the  sake  of 
union  to  save  Liberty  endangered;  and  it  appeals  to 
the  foreign-born,  who,  rejoicing  in  the  privileges  of 
American  citizens,  will  not  hesitate  to  join  in  tliis  holy 
endeavor  to  vindicate  them  against  the  aggressions  of 


APPEAL  FOR  THE  REPUBLICAN   CANDIDATES.  5 

an  Oligarchy  worse  than  any  tyranny  from  which  they 
have  fled.  In  this  appeal  all  former  differences  are  for- 
gotten, while  men, 

"  Erewhile  that  stood  aloof,  as  shy  to  meet, 
Familiar  mingle  here,  like  sister  streams 
That  some  rude  interposing  rock  has  split." 

In  this  contest  there  is  every  motive  to  union,  and 
also  every  motive  to  exertion.  Now  or  never  I  now  and 
forever!  —  such  was  the  ancient  war-cry,  which,  em- 
broidered on  the  Irish  flag,  streamed  from  the  Castle 
of  Dublin,  and  resounded  through  the  whole  island, 
arousing  a  generous  people  to  new  struggle  for  ancient 
rights ;  and  this  war-cry  may  be  fitly  inscribed  on  our 
standard  now.  Arise  now,  or  an  inexorable  slave-driv- 
ing Tyranny  will  be  fastened  upon  you.  Arise  now,  and 
Liberty  will  be  secured  forever. 

Present  my  regards  to  your  associates  in  the  good 
cause,  and  believe  me,  my  dear  Sir, 

Always  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

SETH  WEBB,  JR.,  Esq. 


LONGING  FOR  RESTORATION  TO  ACTIVE  DUTIES, 

WITH  APPEAL  TO  THE  YOUNG  MEN  OF 
MASSACHUSETTS. 

LETTER  TO  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  A  YOUNG  MEN'S  COJSTTENTION  AT 
FITCHBURG,  AUGUST  5,  1856. 


CRESSON,  ALLEGHANY  MOUNTAINS,  PA., 
August  5,  1856. 

DEAE  SIR,  — I  wish  that  I  could  be  with  the 
young  men  of  Massachusetts  at  their  proposed 
Convention,  but  I  am  so  feeble  still  that  I  am  con- 
strained to  turn  away  from  all  temptations  and  oppor- 
tunities of  labor.  In  writing  this  letter  I  infringe  a 
rule  prescribed  by  my  physician. 

We  have  been  told  that  "  the  duties  of  life  are  more 
than  life  " ;  and  I  assure  you  that  the  hardest  part  of  my 
present  lot  is  the  enforced  absence  from  public  duties, 
and  especially  from  that  seat  where,  as  a  Senator  from 
Massachusetts,  it  is  my  right,  and  also  my  strong  desire 
at  this  moment,  to  be  heard.  But  in  the  coolness  of 
the  mountain  retreat  where  I  now  am,  I  begin  to  gather 
hope  of  returning  strength,  —  if  too  tardily  for  the  per- 
formance of  any  public  duties  during  the  session  of 
Congress  now  about  to  close,  yet  in  season  to  take  part 
in  the  rally  of  the  people  for  the  protection  of  Liberty 
in  Kansas,  and  for  the  overthrow  of  the  oligarchical 
Tyranny  which  now  degrades  our  Republic. 


LONGING  FOR  RESTORATION  TO  ACTIVE  DUTIES.          7 

Meanwhile  I  commit  the  cause  which  we  have  at 
heart  to  the  generous  sympathies  of  the  people,  who 
will  surely  rise  to  smite  the  oppressor.  Especially  do 
I  invoke  the  young.  They  are  the  natural  guardians 
of  Liberty.  Thus  has  it  been  throughout  all  history; 
and  never  before  in  history  did  Liberty  stand  in  greater 
need  of  their  irresistible  aid.  It  is  the  young  who  give 
spontaneous  welcome  to  Truth,  when  she  first  appears 
an  unattended  stranger.  It  is  the  young  who  open  the 
soul  with  instinctive  hospitality  to  the  noble  cause. 
The  young  men  of  Massachusetts  act  under  natural  im- 
pulses, when  they  step  forward  as  body-guard  of  the 
Republican  party. 

The  great  discoverer  Harvey,  on  announcing  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood,  was  astonished  to  find  that  no 
person  upward  of  forty  received  this  important  truth. 
The  young  only  embraced  it.  More  fortunate  than 
this  discovery,  our  cause  rallies  in  its  support  alike  the 
experience  of  age  and  the  ardor  of  youth ;  but  it  is  in 
the  glowing  embrace  of  the  young  that  it  finds  assur- 
ance of  victory. 

Were  I  able  to  make  myself  heard  throughout  the 
land,  I  would  say  to  the  young  men  everywhere  who 
truly  love  Liberty :  "  Your  candidate  has  been  the  re- 
nowned pioneer  of  civilization  in  unsettled  wastes: 
associate  yourselves  with  him  now  as  pioneers  of  Lib- 
erty in  the  National  Government ;  help  him  unfurl  at 
Washington  the  flag  which  he  first  unfurled  on  the 
peaks  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  and  be  copartners 
with  him  in  the  glory  of  redeeming  our  beloved 
country." 

Present  to  the  young  men  of  Massachusetts,  whom 
you  represent,  the  assurance  of  my  sincere  interest  in 


8  LONGING  FOR  RESTORATION   TO  ACTIVE  DUTIES. 

their  happiness  and  welfare,  and  believe  me,  my  dear 
Sir,  with  much  regard, 

Faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 
GEORGE  H.  HOYT,  Esq.,  of  the  Committee,  &c. 


APPEAL  TO  THE  REPUBLICANS  OF  RHODE  ISLAND. 

LETTER  TO  A  COMMITTEE,  SEPTEMBER  4,  1856. 


CRESSON,  ALLEGE  ANT  MOUNTAINS,  PA., 
September  4,  1856. 

DEAR   SIR,  —  Were  I  well,  I  should  regard  your 
letter  as  a  summons.    But  I  am  still  in  the  hands 
of  physicians,  by  whom  I  am  carefully  warned  against 
all  public  effort.     Most  reluctantly,  at  this  period  of 
our  country's  trial,  do  I  submit. 

Accept  for  the  Convention  which  will  assemble  at 
Providence  my  best  wishes.  Let  it  apply  itself  with 
earnestness,  diligence,  and  singleness  of  purpose  to  the 
rescue  of  our  fair  land  from  the  tyranny  which  now 
degrades  it.  Here  is  room  for  all,  —  the  aged  and 
the  young,  the  Conservative  and  the  Reformer.  Surely, 
Rhode  Island,  if  not  utterly  disloyal  to  herself,  if  not 
utterly  disloyal  to  New  England  civilization,  if  not 
utterly  disloyal  to  the  Republic  of  which  she  consti- 
tutes a  part,  will  rise  up  as  one  man  and  insist  that 
Kansas  shall  be  secured  to  Liberty,  and  that  the  Slave 
Oligarchy  shall  be  driven  from  its  usurped  foothold  in 
the  National  Government.  At  all  events,  this  State, 
first  planted  by  the  Author  of  Religious  Freedom,  will 
see  that  Human  Rights  do  not  suffer  through  the  votes 
of  her  children. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir,  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  STJMNER. 


CONTRIBUTION  FOR  KANSAS. 

LETTER  TO  MESSRS.  GREELEY  AND  MCELRATH,  OF  THE  NEW  YORK 
TRIBUNE,  SEPTEMBER  23,  1856. 


MESSRS.  GREELEY  AND  MCELRATH:  — 

I  HAVE  watched  with  interest  your  generous  fund 
for  the  relief  and  liberation  of  Kansas,  now  insult- 
ed, trodden  down,  torn,  and  enslaved  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  acting  as  the  tool  of  the  tyrannical 
Slave  Oligarchy.  To  other  funds  for  this  important 
charity  I  have  already  given  according  to  my  small 
means ;  but,  as  a  constant  reader  of  the  "  Tribune,"  I 
cannot  miss  the  opportunity  which  you  afford  to  protest 
anew  against  an  unparalleled  Crime,  and  to  contribute 
anew  to  its  mitigation.  Please  to  accept  the  check 
which  I  enclose  for  one  hundred  dollars.  I  wish  it 
were  more,  when  so  much  is  needed. 

Believe  me,  Gentlemen,  your  faithful  servant, 

CHARLES  SUMNEB. 

PHILADELPHIA,  September  23,  1856. 


REGRET  FOR  CONTINUED  DISABILITY. 

LETTER  TO  HON.  LEWIS  D.  CAMPBELL,  OF  OHIO,  SEPTEMBER  24,  1856. 


HAMILTON,  Monday,  September  29, 1856. 
EDITORS  OF  THE  CINCINNATI  GAZETTE:  — 

TENS  of  thousands  of  the  Friends  of  Freedom  were  anxious  to  meet 
Senator  Sumner  at  this  place  on  Friday  last.  Many  went  away  disap- 
pointed. I  had  assured  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  that,  if  the 
state  of  his  health  permitted,  he  would  attend  the  meeting. 

I  have  just  received  the  enclosed  private  letter,  which  I  venture  to 
hand  for  publication,  that  those  who  were  disappointed  may  under- 
stand and  appreciate  the  cause  of  his  non-attendance.  It  is  in  answer 
to  a  letter  in  which  I  urged  Mr.  Sumner  to  spend  a  fortnight  in  the 
Miami  Valley  for  recreation,  and  to  appear  at  the  Hamilton  meeting, 
even  if  his  health  should  not  permit  him  to  speak. 
Very  truly  yours,  &c. 

LEWIS  D.  CAMPBELL. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Wednesday,  September  24,  1856. 

MY  DEAE  SIK,  —  Your  letter  of  the  9th  of  Sep- 
tember, after  travelling  to  Boston,  at  last  found 
me  here,  where  I  am  still  detained  under  medical  treat- 
ment, away  from  my  home,  which  I  have  not  visited 
since  I  left  it  at  the  beginning  of  the  late  session  of 
Congress,  now  ten  months  ago. 

With  sorrow  inexpressible,  I  am  still  constrained  to 
all  the  care  and  reserve  of  an  invalid.  More  than  four 
months  have  passed  since  you  clasped  my  hand  as  I 
lay  bleeding  at  the  Senate  Chamber,  and  my  system 


12  REGRET  FOR   CONTINUED   DISABILITY. 

is  even  now  so  far  from  the  firmness  of  health  that 
any  departure  from  the  prescribed  rule  is  sure  to  occa- 
sion a  relapse.  I  could  not  reach  Ohio  except  by  slow 
stages ;  and  were  I  there,  I  should  not  have  the  sanction 
of  my  physician  in  exposing  myself  to  the  excitements 
of  a  public  meeting,  even  if  1  said  nothing.  This  is 
hard,  very  hard,  for  me  to  bear ;  for  I  long  to  do  some- 
thing at  this  critical  moment  for  the  cause.  What  is 
life  without  action  ? 

For  a  while,  at  least,  I  must  leave  to  others  the  pre- 
cious satisfaction  of  laboring  for  Liberty  and  the  re- 
demption of  our  country.  But  I  have  the  comfort  of 
knowing  that  never  before  was  I  so  little  needed. 

God  bless  Ohio  for  her  glorious  testimony  already, 
and  her  more  glorious  promises ! 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir,  very  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

HON.  LEWIS  D.  CAMPBELL,  Hamilton,  Ohio. 


EFFECT  OF  A  VOTE  FOR  BUCHANAN: 

APPEAL  TO  THE  REPUBLICANS  OF  ILLINOIS. 

LETTER  TO  A  COMMITTEE  OF  REPUBLICANS  AT  JOLIET, 
OCTOBER  2,  1856. 


THE  local  paper  reports  that  this  letter  "was  received  with  tremen- 
dous applause." 

PHILADELPHIA,  October  2,  1856. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot  be  with  the 
Republicans  of  Illinois  at  Joliet  on  the  8th  of  Oc- 
tober, according  to  the  invitation  with  which  they  have 
honored  me ;  but  inexorable,  long-continued  disability 
and  the  admonitions  of  medical  skill  keep  me  back  still 
from  all  public  effort,  and  even  from  return  to  my  home, 
which  I  have  not  visited  for  more  than  ten  months. 

It  is  hard  to  renounce  the  opportunity  which  you 
offer  me ;  for  I  have  constantly  hoped  to  visit  Illinois 
during  the  present  contest,  and  in  plain  language  put 
to  her  people  the  questions  which  they  are  to  decide  by 
their  votes.  These  are  all  involved  in  the  Freedom  of 
Kansas,  but  they  are  manifold  in  form. 

Are  you  against  the  extension  of  Slavery?  If  yea, 
then  vote  for  Fremont. 

Are  you  especially  against  the  extension  of  Slavery 
BY  FORCE  ?  If  yea,  then  vote  for  Fremont. 

Are  you  against  the  erection  of  the  Slave  Oligarchy 
as  the  dominant  power  in  our  Republic  ?  If  yea,  then, 
vote  for  Fremont. 


14  EFFECT   OF  A  VOTE  FOR  BUCHANAN. 

Are  you  against  the  violation  of  the  constitutional 
rights  of  American  citizens  ?  If  yea,  then  vote  for  Fre- 
mont. 

Audacious  sophistry,  often  exposed,  but  still  flaunt- 
ing abroad,  may  seek  to  deceive  you.  It  may  foam  with 
abuse  and  bristle  with  perversion  of  fact ;  but  it  cannot 
obscure  the  unquestionable  truth,  which  now  stares 
everybody  in  the  face,  that  a  vote  for  Buchanan  is  a 
vote  for  all  these  bad  things.  It  is  a  vote  not  simply  for 
the  extension  of  Slavery,  but  also  for  tJie  extension  of 
Slavery  BY  FORCE,  involving,  besides,  the  erection  of 
the  Slave  Oligarchy  as  the  dominant  power  in  our  Re- 
public, and  the  violation  of  the  constitutional  rights  of 
American  citizens.  Surely,  Illinois  will  not  be  led  to 
sanction  such  enormities.  Hers  will  be  the  path  of  Lib- 
erty, which  is,  of  course,  the  path  of  true  patriotism. 
Through  her  agency  incalculable  harm  has  already  come 
to  the  Republic ;  but  I  cannot  forget  that  she  has  begun 
a  glorious  reparation,  by  introducing  to  the  National 
Councils  a  Senator  of  rare  skill  in  debate,  of  sweetest 
purity  of  character,  and  of  perfect  loyalty  to  those  prin- 
ciples by  which  Liberty  will  be  secured,  and  our  good 
name  extended  in  history.  I  refer  to  Mr.  Trumbull, 
who  now  belongs  to  the  whole  country,  which  is  justly 
grateful  for  his  eminent  services.  With  his  example 
before  her,  Illinois  cannot  wander  again  into  the  sup- 
port of  Slavery. 

Give  to  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  my  hearty  God- 
speed, and  let  my  absence  speak  to  them. 

Ever  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  STJMNER. 
To  HON.  J.  O.  NORTON. 


APPEAL  FOR  THE  REPUBLICAN  CAUSE. 

LETTER  TO  A  COMMITTEE  OF  HUDSON  RIVER  COUNTIES,  POUGHKEEPSIE, 
NEW  YORK,  OCTOBER  3,  1856. 


PHILADELPHIA,  October  3,  1856. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  Among  valued  opportunities,  which, 
by  the  dictation  of  my  physician  and  the  admo- 
nitions of  continued  ill-health,  I  am  constrained  to 
forego,  is  that  afforded  by  the  invitation,  with  which 
I  have  been  honored,  to  meet  the  Republicans  of  the 
Hudson  River  Counties  at  Poughkeepsie.  They  will, 
I  trust,  believe  me  not  indifferent  to  their  kindness, 
or  to  the  cause  in  whose  name  they  are  to  assemble. 

Nothing  but  necessity  could  keep  me  thus  aloof,  a 
mere  looker-on,  while  the  great  battle  of  Freedom  is 
waged.  The  pleasure  of  the  sight  to  a  spectator  secure 
in  the  distance  has  been  declared  by  an  ancient  poet 
in  a  much  admired  passage,  reproduced  by  a  greater 
modern :  — 

"  'T  is  pleasant  also  to  behold  from  far 
The  moving  legions  mingled  in  the  war." 

Yet  the  impulse  and  ardor  of  my  convictions  do  not 
allow  me  to  be  content  in  any  such  retirement.  I 
wish  to  enter  the  strife,  and  give  such  powers  as  I 
can  to  the  righteous  cause.  But  I  am  forbidden. 

It  only  remains  that  from  my  retreat  I  should  send 
all  that  for  the  present  I  can  give,  the  prayers  and  bene- 
dictions of  one  yet  too  feeble  for  any  exertion. 


16  APPEAL  FOR  THE   REPUBLICAN   CAUSE. 

While  thus  sitting  apart,  I  am  permitted  to  survey 
the  field  and  to  recognize  the  ensigns  of  triumph  now 
streaming  in  the  fresh  northern  breeze.  Everywhere 
the  people  are  aroused,  at  least  away  from  the  pave- 
ment of  great  cities,  where,  too  often,  human  perver- 
sity is  such  as  to  suggest  that  "  God  made  the  coun- 
try and  man  made  the  town." 

Iowa,  at  the  extreme  West,  and  Maine,  at  the  extreme 
East,  testify  to  a  sentiment  which  must  prevail  also  in 
the  intermediate  States.  In  proper  season  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  will  confess  it.  And  this  is  natural ; 
for  the  whole  broad  country  has  been  shocked  by  the 
enormities  of  which  Mr.  Buchanan,  in  the  pending  con- 
test, is  the  unflinching  representative,  and  Mr.  FiUmore 
the  cautious,  but  effective,  partisan. 

In  this  contest  I  discern  the  masses  of  the  people, 
under  the  name  of  the  Republican  party,  together  with 
good  men  regardless  of  ancient  party  ties,  arrayed  on 
the  one  side,  while  on  the  other  side  is  the  oligarch- 
ical combination  of  slave-masters,  with  the  few  North- 
ern retainers  they  are  yet  able  to  keep,  composed  chiefly 
of  sophists  whose  lives  are  involved  in  a  spider's  web 
of  fine-spun  excuses,  hirelings  whose  personal  convic- 
tions are  all  lost  in  salary,  present  or  prospective,  and 
trimmers  whose  eyes  fail  to  discern  present  changes  of 
opinion  only  because  they  are  fastened  too  greedily 
upon  ancient  chances  of  preferment.  Such  are  the 
parties. 

And  I  discern  clearly  the  precise  question  on  which 
these  parties  are  divided.  In  stating  it  I  answer  it. 

The  Territory  of  Kansas  has  been  made  the  victim  of 
countless  atrocities,  in  order  to  force  Slavery  upon  its 
beautiful,  uncontaminated  soil.  By  lawless  violence 


APPEAL  FOR  THE  REPUBLICAN   CAUSE.  17 

a  Government  has  been  established  there,  which,  after 
despoiling  the  citizen  of  all  his  dearest  rights,  has  sur- 
rounded Slavery  with  the  protection  of  pretended  stat- 
utes. And  the  question  is  distinctly  submitted  to 
the  American  people,  "  Are  you  ready  to  sanction  these 
enormities  ? "  This  is  the  simple  question.  The  ora- 
tors of  Slavery,  freely  visiting  Poughkeepsie,  could  not 
answer  it,  and  therefore  they  have  kept  it  out  of  sight. 
But  there  the  question  stands. 

Eefusing  to  become  partakers  of  such  wrong,  you 
will  contribute  not  only  to  the  freedom  of  Kansas,  but 
also  to  the  overthrow  of  the  brutal  and  domineering 
Oligarchy  which  seeks  to  enslave  Kansas,  simply  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  the  enslavement  of  the  whole  coun- 
try. Surely,  no  man  can  hesitate,  when  Freedom  re- 
quires his  vote.  Nay,  more,  is  not  this  cause  worth 
living  for  ?  is  not  this  cause  worth  dying  for  ? 

Accept  my  thanks  for  the  special  kindness  of  your 
communication,  and  my  regrets  that  I  can  answer  it 
only  by  this  imperfect  letter. 

Believe  me,  dear  Sir,  ever  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

STEPHEN  BAKER,  Esq. 


TOL.  vi.  —  2 


RELIEF  FOR  KANSAS. 

LETTER  TO  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  KANSAS  AID  SOCIETY  AT  BOSTON, 
OCTOBER  3,  1856. 


PHILADELPHIA,  October  3,  1856. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  There  is  inspiration  in  a  good 
cause,  which  is  shown  at  once  in  the  improved 
character  of  all  who  embrace  it.  Especially  is  this 
apparent  in  the  young.  Never  is  youth  so  radiant  as 
under  its  influence.  The  young  men  of  Boston  have 
done  wisely  for  themselves  in  associating  together  for 
the  relief  of  Kansas.  All  that  they  can  do  will  be 
twice  blessed,  —  blessing  them  in  their  lives,  and  bless- 
ing distant  despoiled  fellow-citizens. 

With  pleasure  I  learn  that  the  Governor  will  preside 
at  your  earliest  public  meeting.  But  this  is  only  ac- 
cording to  the  just  rule  of  life.  Kindred  to  honors  are 
duties ;  and  the  head  of  a  Christian  Commonwealth 
should  be  the  head  of  this  Christian  charity,  while 
every  citizen  should  range  in  place,  and  our  beloved 
Massachusetts,  by  the  contributions,  voices,  and  votes 
of  her  unanimous  children,  should  become  one  united, 
compact,  all-embracing  Kansas  Relief  Society,  at  once 
an  overflowing  fountain  of  beneficence  and  an  irresisti- 
ble example  to  the  country.  For  myself,  I  would  rather 
a  thousand  times  serve  this  cause,  even  in  the  humblest 
capacity,  than  be  a  Governor  indifferent  to  its  appeals. 


RELIEF  FOR  KANSAS.  19 

All  that  can  be  given  is  needed;  and  whoso  gives 
"bestows  upon  a  missionary  enterprise,  which,  in  the 
footsteps  of  Liberty,  will  carry  peace,  civilization,  Chris- 
tianity, the  Bible,  and  all  blessings  of  earth  and  heaven. 
To  such  a  charity  every  person  must  give ;  if  in  no 
other  way,  the  man  who  has  two  coats  must  sell  one, 
and  let  Kansas  have  the  other.  But,  while  encourag- 
ing this  effort,  candor  compels  the  confession  that  all 
your  contributions  will  be  of  small  account,  unless  a 
President  and  Congress  are  chosen  who  shall  give  their 
sympathies  to  Freedom  rather  than  to  Slavery.  Only 
in  this  way  can  the  rod  of  the  oppressor  be  broken. 
A  vote  for  such  men  will  be  a  contribution  to  Kansas. 

Present  my  thanks  to  your  associates,  and  accept  for 
yourself  the  assurance  of  my  special  gratitude  for  that 
constant  devotion  to  human  freedom  by  which  you 
have  been  distinguished. 

Ever  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

DR.  W.  F.  CHANNING. 


DUTY  TO  VOTE  FOR  KANSAS  AND  FOR 
BURLINGAME. 

LETTER  TO  A  MEETING  AT  FANEOTL  HALL,  OCTOBER  29,  1856. 


PHILADELPHIA,  October  29,  1856. 

STE,  —  I  cannot  be  at  Faneuil  Hall  on  Saturday 
evening,  according  to  the  invitation  with  which 
I  have  been  honored.  But,  though  feeble  still,  I  hope 
to  be  in  Boston  on  the  succeeding  Tuesday,  to  vote.  If 
not  strong  enough  to  speak,  I  trust  at  least  to  be  able 
to  perform  this  duty  of  the  citizen. 

My  vote  will  not  be  needed ;  but  I  am  unwilling 
that  the  opportunity  should  pass  of  uttering  my  de- 
termined NO  against  the  efforts  now  making  to  sub- 
jugate Kansas  and  to  install  the  Slave  Oligarchy  in  per- 
manent control  of  the  National  Government.  Against 
this  dreadful  conspiracy  I  protest,  with  all  the  ardor  of 
my  soul;. and  I  know  no  way  in  which  I  can  hope  to 
make  this  protest  immediately  effective,  except  by  cast- 
ing my  vote  for  those  candidates  openly  and  unequivo- 
cally hostile  to  the  consummation  of  the  crime. 

Especially  shall  I  vote  for  Burlingame ;  and  I  shall 
do  this,  not  only  because  I  think  him  worthy  of  honor, 
and  admire  his  generous  nature,  intrepidity,  and  elo- 
quence, but  because  I  have  at  heart  the  good  name  of 
Boston,  and  the  welfare  of  my  country.  Boston  should 
sustain  Burlingame,  not  merely  for  his  sake,  but  for  her 


DUTY  TO  VOTE  FOR  KANSAS  AND  BURLINGAME.          21 

own  sake,  —  not  merely  to  do  him  honor,  but  to  save 
herself  from  dishonor,  —  not  merely  from  local  pride, 
but  to  strengthen  Liberty  and  to  serve  the  whole  Ke- 
public,  now  endangered  alike  from  criminal  audacity 
and  from  subservient  timidity. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir, 

Your  faithful  servant, 

CHARLES  SUMNEB. 

To  THE  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  MEETING  AT  FANEUIL  HALL. 


PUBLIC  RECEPTION  OF  MR.  SUMNER, 

ON  HIS  RETURN  TO  BOSTON: 

WITH    THE    SPEECHES: 
NOVEMBER  3,  1856. 


As  it  became  known  that  Mr.  Sumner  would  return  home  to  vote,  a 
Boston  committee  visited  Philadelphia  to  urge  his  acceptance  of  a 
banquet,  with  the  understanding  that  he  should  simply  show  himself 
there  without  speaking.  Acting  under  medical  advice,  he  declined  this 
invitation.  The  sympathy  of  the  community  found  vent  in  a  public 
reception. 

The  reception  of  Senator  Sumner,  on  his  return  to  Boston,  was  an 
imposing  popular  demonstration.1  It  was  purely  a  peaceful  and  spon- 
taneous celebration.  There  was  no  organization  of  enthusiasm  ;  there 
were  no  military,  no  fire  companies,  no  associated  bodies,  to  swell 
the  ranks  of  the  procession  or  attract  attention.  Those  of  his  fellow- 
citizens,  simply,  who  wished  to  testify  respect  and  sympathy,  went 
forth  to  meet  him  ;  through  the  mouth  of  one,  the  most  venerable  and 
honored  of  their  number,  they  welcomed  -him  on  his  entrance  within 
the  limits  of  the  city,  and  the  chief  executive  magistrate  of  the  Com- 
monwealth greeted  him  on  his  arrival  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  State 
capitol.  In  both  places,  and  also  before  Mr.  Sumner's  residence  in 
Hancock  Street,  there  were  vast  concourses  of  citizens,  assembled  to 
do  honor  to  their  Senator. 

The  weather  was  favorable  ;  the  atmosphere  was  clear  and  warm  for 
the  season  ;  and  although  the  appearance  of  the  sky  at  times  boded 
rain,  none  fell  until  late  in  the  evening,  long  after  the  exercises  of  the 
day  were  concluded. 

Mr.  Sumner  arrived  in  this  vicinity  on  Sunday  morning,  Novem- 
ber 2d.  On  Monday  he  drove  from  Professor  Longfellow's,  in  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  had  been  staying,  to  the  house  of  Amos  A.  Law- 

1  This  account  is  compiled  from  the  Boston  newspapers  of  the  day. 


PUBLIC  EECEPTION  IN  BOSTON.         23 

rence,  Esq.,  at  Longwood,  in  Brookline.  Soon  after  one  o'clock,  the 
invited  guests,  who  had  assembled  at  the  State  House,  proceeded 
in  open  carriages  to  Longwood,  where  they  were  joined  by  Mr. 
Sumner,  who  passed  along  the  line  of  carriages,  and  was  silently 
greeted  by  the  gentlemen  rising  and  removing  their  hats.  The  car- 
riages then  proceeded  across  to  Roxbury,  and  thence  along  Washing- 
ton Street  to  the  Boston  line,  which  was  reached  at  three  o'clock. 
Here  the  cavalcade  was  assembled,  together  with  a  vast  concourse  of 
citizens. 

The  chief  marshal  was  General  John  S.  Tyler,  assisted  by  the  fol- 
lowing gentlemen  as  aids  :  Major  John  C.  Park,  Colonel  R.  I.  Bur- 
bank,  Major  Moses  G.  Cobb,  E.  Webster  Pike,  Esq.,  Adjutant-General 
E.  W.  Stone,  Colonel  A.  J.  Wright,  Colonel  W.  W.  Bullock,  and  Carlos 
Pierce,  Esq. 

The  following  were  the  assistant  marshals  :  Captain  I.  F.  Shepard, 
Charles  H.  Hawes,  W.  E.  Webster,  F.  L.  Chapin,  0.  H.  Button, 
Major  F.  A.  Heath,  F.  B.  Fay,  Julian  O.  Mason,  A.  A.  Dunnels, 
Stephen  Rhoades,  H.  D.  Child,  Leister  M.  Clark,  Charles  W.  Pierce, 
R.  F.  Martin,  Rufus  Frost,  F.  A.  Fuller,  J.  W.  Wolcott,  William  B. 
Spooner,  Henry  D.  Williams,  Colonel  Robert  Cowdin,  of  Boston,  and 
Eugene  Batchelder,  Charles  D.  Hills,  D.  P.  Ripley,  of  Cambridge. 

As  it  went  up  Washington  Street,  the  cavalcade  numbered,  by 
actual  count,  about  eight  hundred  horsemen  ;  but  its  numbers  were 
subsequently  increased  by  fresh  arrivals,  in  couples  and  in  groups,  to 
over  a  thousand. 

On  the  head  of  the  cavalcade  reaching  the  borders  of  Roxbury,  it 
halted,  and  the  whole  was  drawn  up  in  a  long  line  at  the  upper  side 
of  Washington  Street,  facing  the  centre.  For  over  half  an  hour  it  waited 
for  the  cortege  from  Brookline  which  was  to  escort  Mr.  Sumner,  and 
when  at  last  the  latter  appeared,  it  was  received  with  hearty  cheers 
and  music  from  the  Brigade  Band.  It  consisted  of  some  sixteen  or 
eighteen  barouches  or  carriages,  containing  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments and  other  gentlemen. 

The  barouche  which  contained  Mr.  Sumner  was  drawn  by  magnifi- 
cent horses.  With  Mr.  Sumner  was  the  Rev.  Professor  F.  D.  Hun- 
tington,  of  Harvard  University,  and  Dr.  Perry,  of  this  city,  Mr. 
Stunner's  physician.  Among  those  in  the  succeeding  barouches  were 
Messrs.  Abbott  and  James  Lawrence,  George  and  Isaac  Livermore, 
Edwin  P.  Whipple,  George  R.  Russell,  Charles  G.  Loring,  J.  Hun- 
tington  Wolcott,  Hon.  E.  C.  Baker,  President  of  the  Senate,  Dr. 
Beck  and  Rev.  Dr.  Francis,  of  Cambridge,  Professor  Levering,  and 
James  Russell  Lowell,  the  poet,  —  that  which  followed  Mr.  Sumner's 


24  PUBLIC   RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON. 

t>arouche  containing  Professor  Longfellow,  and  George  Sumner,  the 
brother  of  the  Senator. 

As  the  carriage  with  Mr.  Sumner  touched  the  line  between  Rox- 
bury  and  Boston,  there  was  a  general  cheer,  which  was  continued 
along  far  into  the  distance,  —  the  Brigade  Band  playing  "  Hail  Colum- 
bia." The  first  division  of  the  cavalcade  wheeled  to  the  left,  and 
formed  into  an  escort.  The  carriages  of  Mr.  Sumner  and  the  Com- 
mittee came  next  in  succession,  and  then  the  two  remaining  divis- 
ions fell  into  column. 

A  few  rods  north  of  the  Roxbury  line  the  cavalcade  came  to  a  halt, 
when  Mr.  Sumner's  carnage  was  driven  alongside  of  that  containing 
Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  and  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Rice,  mayor  of  Boston. 
After  greetings  between  the  parties,  Professor  Huntington  introduced 
Mr.  Sumner  to  Mr.  Quincy  in  the  following  brief  address. 

"  MR.  QUINCY,  —  The  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  welcoming  the 
Hon.  Charles  Sumner  to  his  home  present  him  here  to  you,  Sir,  a  venerated 
representative  of  the  city  of  his  birth.  He  comes  back  from  his  public  post, 
where  he  has  bravely  advocated  the  cause  of  all  freemen,  to  enjoy  a  free- 
man's privilege  and  discharge  a  freeman's  duty.  He  comes,  a  cheerful  and 
victorious  sufferer,  out  of  great  conflicts  of  humanity  with  oppression,  of 
ideas  with  ignorance,  of  scholarship  and  refinement  with  barbarian  vul- 
garity, of  intellectual  power  with  desperate  and  brutal  violence,  of  con- 
science with  selfish  expediency,  of  right  with  wrong.  Boston  does  well  in 
coming  out  to  greet  him.  For  that  ample  and  lofty  manhood,  trained  under 
her  education  and  consolidated  in  her  climate,  has  added  new  dignity  to  her 
old  renown.  It  has  joined  her  name  more  inseparably  than  ever  with  the 
aspirations  of  Christian  liberty,  and  the  honors  of  disinterested  patriotism, 
throughout  the  earth,  and  through  all  time." 

MR.  QUINCY  then  addressed  Mr.  Sumner  as  follows. 

"  MR.  SUMNER,  —  It  is  with  inexpressible  pleasure  that  I  address  you 
this  day  as  the  voice  of  the  great  multitude  of  your  fellow-citizens.  In  their 
name,  and  by  their  authority,  I  welcome  you  to  your  home  in  Massachu- 
setts, expressing  their  honor  and  thanks  for  the  power  and  fidelity  with 
which  you  have  fulfilled  your  duties  as  their  representative  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  where,  '  unshaken,  unseduced,  unterrified,'  you  kept 
your  love,  your  zeal,  your  loyalty  to  Liberty,  —  where  neither  number,  nor 
example,  threat  nor  sneer, '  within  you  wrought  to  swerve  from  truth,  or 
change  your  constant  mind.'  [Applause.'] 

"  You  return  to  your  country,  Sir,  after  having  given  glorious  evidences 
of  intellectual  power,  which  touched,  as  with  the  spear  of  Ithuriel,  the  evil 
spirit  of  our  Union,  causing  it  at  once  to  develop  in  fall  proportions  its 
gigantic  deformity,  compelling  it  to  unveil  to  the  Free  States  its  malign 
design  to  make  this  hind  of  the  free  a  land  of  slaves.  [  Voices,  '  Never  I 
never!'} 


PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON.  25 

"  Yon  have  suffered,  and  are  still  suffering,  for  yonr  intrepid  faithfulness. 
But  suffering  in  the  cause  of  Truth  and  Liberty  is  the  heaven-laid  path  to 
win  '  the  crown  which  Virtue  gives  after  this  mortal  change  to  her  true 
servants.'  [Hearty  cheers.'] 

"  I  rejoice  that  my  life  has  been  prolonged  to  this  day,  —  that  I  am  per- 
mitted to  behold  the  dawnings  of  ancient  Liberty  through  the  broken  open- 
ings of  the  clouds,  which  for  more  than  fifty  years  the  spirit  of  Slavery  has 
extended  over  this  Union.  I  thank  Heaven  that  now,  at  last,  the  Free 
States  are  beginning  to  awaken  to  a  sense  of  their  dangers  and  their  duties, 
—  that,  at  length,  they  begin  to  realize  that  the  Slave  States  have  overleaped 
the  bounds  of  the  Constitution.  The  apathy  of  half  a  century  may  delay 
for  a  time  the  triumphs  of  Freedom,  but  come  they  will.  Final  success  is 
certain.  Never  again  will  the  Free  States  in  silence  acquiesce  in  the 
farther  extension  of  slave  domain.  [Loud  applause,  and  cries  of  '  Never  ! 
never ! '  ]  Henceforth  they  will  hear  and  attend  to  the  warning  voice  of 
Washington,  solemnly  uttered  in  his  Farewell  Address,  — '  SUBMIT  HOT  TO 
USURPATION,'  — '  RESIST,  WITH  CAKE,  THE  SPIRIT  OF  INNOVATION  UPON 
THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION.'  [  Cheers.] 

"  We  welcome  you,  Sir,  as  the  champion  of  Freedom  [loud  cheers'],  and  as 
one  to  whom  the  deliverance  which  we  hope  may  yet  be  destined  for  our 
country  will  be  greatly  due." 

MR.  STTMNER,  who  had  been  standing  in  his  carriage,  uncovered, 
then  spoke,  in  a  subdued  voice,  and  evidently  under  the  influence  of 
deep  feeling,  as  follows. 


ME.  QTJINCY, —  A  year  has  nearly  run  since  I 
left  Boston  in  the  discharge  of  public  duties. 
During  this  period,  amidst  important  events,  I  have 
been  able  to  do  something  which  my  fellow-citizens 
and  neighbors,  speaking  by  your  authoritative  voice,  are 
pleased  to  approve.  I  am  happy  in  this  approbation. 
Especially  am  I  happy  that  it  is  conveyed  by  the  elo- 
quent words  of  one  who  from  my  childhood  has  been 
with  me  an  object  of  unaffected  reverence,  who  was 
the  municipal  head  of  my  native  city  while  I  was  a 
pupil  at  its  public  schools,  and  who  was  the  head  of 
the  University  while  I  was  a  pupil  in  that  ancient 
seat. 


26         PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON. 

Boston,  early  in  her  history,  set  her  face  against  Slav- 
ery. By  a  vote,  entered  upon  her  Town  Records,  as  long 
ago  as  1701,  she  called  upon  her  Representatives  "to 
put  a  period  to  negroes  being  slaves."  If  I  have  done 
anything  to  deserve  the  greeting  you  now  lavish,  it  is 
because  I  have  striven  to  maintain  those  principles 
here  declared,  and  to  extend  them  to  other  places,  — 
stretching  the  venerable  shelter  of  Faneuil  Hall  even 
over  distant  Kansas.  \Loud  applause.] 

You  have  made  allusion  to  the  suffering  which  I  have 
undergone.  This  is  not  small  But  it  has  been  incur- 
red in  the  performance  of  duty ;  and  how  little  is  it, 
Sir,  compared  with  the  suffering  of  fellow-citizens  in 
Kansas !  How  small  is  it,  compared  with  that  tale  of 
woe  which  is  perpetually  coming  to  us  from  the  house 
of  bondage  ! 

With  you  I  hail  the  omens  of  final  triumph.  I  ask 
no  prophet  to  confirm  this  assurance.  The  future  is  not 
less  secure  than  the  past. 

You  are  pleased  to  quote  injunctions  of  Washington. 
If  ever  there  was  occasion  to  bear  these,  not  only  in 
memory,  but  in  heart,  the  time  is  now,  when  Usurpation 
is  the  order  of  the  day,  and  the  Constitution  is  set  at  de- 
fiance. Beyond  these  precepts  is  also  his  great  exam- 
ple, which,  from  first  to  last,  teaches  the  constant  lesson 
of  fidelity,  in  standing  up  for  the  liberties  of  our  coun- 
try, in  undoubting  faith  that  the  good  cause  cannot  fail. 

The  rule  of  duty  is  the  same  for  the  lowly  and  the 
great ;  and,  in  the  communication  which  I  addressed 
to  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  accepting  the  trust 
which  I  now  hold,  I  ventured  to  adopt  the  determina- 
tion of  Washington,  and  to  avow  his  confidence.  In 
both  I  hope  to  hold  fast  unto  the  end.  \Loud  cheers.'] 


PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON.  27 

Mr.  Sumner  then  passed  from  the  carriage  in  which  he  had  been 
riding  into  that  of  Mr.  Quincy  and  Mayor  Rice.  Professor  Hunting- 
ton  also  took  a  seat  in  the  same  carriage,  which  was  drawn  by  six 
splendid  gray  horses.  A  body-guard  of  marshals  mounted,  and  of 
police,  formed  on  each  side  of  the  barouche,  in  order  to  keep  the 
multitudes  in  the  streets  from  pressing  up  to  shake  hands  with  Mr. 
Sumner. 

The  cavalcade  then  proceeded  onwards,  amid  repeated  cheers  of  the 
multitudes  lining  the  streets  on  both  sides.  In  accordance  with  di- 
rections from  his  physician,  Mr.  Sumner  acknowledged  these  demon- 
strations only  by  a  wave  of  the  hand. 

On  reaching  Newton  Street,  on  Blackstone  Square,  a  long  line  of 
beautiful  young  ladies  was  ranged  upon  the  pavement  on  the  south 
side,  each  holding  a  bouquet,  to  present  to  Senator  Sumner.  Pre- 
viously, however,  a  very  interesting  scene  took  place.  Mrs.  C.  W. 
Pierce,  Mrs.  G.  L.  Goodwin,  Mrs.  Henry  Keyes,  and  Miss  Mary  Pierce 
—  each  dressed  in  white,  with  wreaths  on  their  heads,  and  wearing 
elegant  sashes  —  came  forward,  and  presented  Mr.  Sumner  splendid 
bouquets,  which  action  seemed  to  give  him  much  gratification.  But  the 
receipt  of  another  from  the  hands  of  a  lovely  child,  carried  up  to  the 
Senator  in  the  arms  of  a  gentleman,  and  a  similar  act  in  Shawmut 
Avenue,  were  peculiarly  grateful  to  him.  No  previous  or  subsequent 
circumstances  during  the  day  seemed  to  give  Mr.  Sumner  such  true  de- 
light as  these  kindnesses.  On  proceeding  forward,  the  ladies  showered 
their  bouquets  upon  him  from  sidewalks  and  windows  along  the  street, 
until  the  carriage  was  pretty  nigh  full.  As  the  floral  burden  ac- 
cumulated, he  laughed  the  more  heartily,  and  spoke  his  gratitude  to 
every  one  of  the  fair  donors  his  voice  could  reach.  All  along  Newton 
Street,  and  the  west  side  of  Blackstone  Square,  the  procession  was 
cheered  in  the  most  enthusiastic  manner.  Ladies  crowded  almost  every 
window,  and  the  scene  was  the  most  brilliant  along  the  route. 

As  the  procession  reached  the  Boston  Female  Orphan  Asylum  on 
Washington  Street,  the  inmates  of  that  institution  were  seen  ranged  in 
front  of  the  building,  waving  their  handkerchiefs,  and  displaying  on  a 
white  banner  a  beautiful  wreath  of  evergreen  intermingled  with  flowers, 
with  the  motto,  — 

"  We  weave  a  wreath  for  Charles  Sumner." 

This  was  the  only  point  on  the  route  of  the  procession  where  Mr.  Sum- 
ner rose  to  his  feet.  Here  the  kindness  of  these  orphaned  ones  so 
touched  his  feelings,  that  he  could  not  help  acknowledging  it  in  this 
way. 


28  PUBLIC  RECEPTION   IN  BOSTON. 

Attached  to  several  of  the  bouquets  thrown  to  Mr.  Sumner  were 
appropriate  and  expressive  mottoes.  The  principal  of  them  were  as  fol- 
lows. 

"  No  bludgeon  can  dim  the  lustre  of  our  champion  of  Freedom." 

"  Massachusetts's  most  honored  son.  If  the  ladies  could  vote,  he  would 
be  the  next  President." 

"  A  warm  welcome  from  warm  hearts  to  the  noblest  man  America  has 
ever  borne  iii  her  bosom !  78  Shawmut  Avenue,  Nov.  3,  1856." 

"  Welcome- home!  The  sons  and  daughters  of  Massachusetts  greet  her 
noblest  defender." 

"  Infants  welcome  him  whose  name  lives  immortal  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen." 

"  Welcome,  dear  friend  of  justice !  " 

All  along  the  line  of  procession,  namely,  down  Washington  Street, 
Newton  Street,  Shawmut  Avenue,  Dover  Street,  Washington  Street, 
West  Street,  Tremont  Street,  Boylston  Street,  Charles  Street,  and 
Beacon  Street  to  the  State  House,  the  crowds  which  greeted  the  hon- 
ored Senator  at  every  point  were  great. 

At  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Newton  Streets,  over  Washing- 
ton, there  was  a  fine  display  of  flags  and  streamers.  From  the  house  of 
Mr.  Nickerson,  fronting  on  Franklin  Square,  was  a  splendid  trium- 
phal arch,  between  two  elm-trees,  flags  and  streamers  surrounding 
the  word  — 

"  Welcome !  " 

Newton  Street  had  a  large  number  of  flags,  the  union  jack  displayed 
alternately  with  the  national  ensign  on  staff's  projecting  from  Franklin 
Square.  The  entire  street  was  strewed  with  evergreens.  It  was  a 
beautiful  display. 

At  the  junction  of  Newton  Street  and  Shawmut  Avenue,  the  houses 
of  Benjamin  Smith  and  Alfred  A.  Andrews  were  splendidly  decorated 
witli  festoons  and  flags.  Between  them,  floating  above  Newton  Street, 
was  the  following  :  — 

"Massachusetts  loves,  honors,  will  sustain  and  defend  her  noble  Sumner!  " 

The  house  of  E.  G.  Dudley,  at  the  corner  of  Shawmut  Avenue  and 
Waltham  Street,  made  a  fine  appearance.  Besides  flags  and  festoons, 
was  the  following,  wreathed  in  black  :  — 

"  May  22, 1856." 


PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON.  29 

Beneath  this  was  the  following  :  — 

"  Welcome,  thrice  welcome !  " 

At  the  corner  of  Shawmut  Avenue  and  Dover  Street,  on  the  house 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Sargent,  was  the  following  significant  motto  :  — 
"To  the  Right!" 

pointing  the  route  of  the  procession. 

The  house  of  Dr.  Parks,  No.  88  Dover  Street,  was  beautifully  deco- 
rated, —  an  eagle  above  the  upper-story  windows,  holding  a  number 
of  streamers,  which  were  gathered  below.  The  following  was  inscribed, 
upon  the  building  :  — 

"  Resistance  to  tyrants  is  obedience  to  God." 

The  piano-rooms  of  T.  Gilbert  were  decorated,   with  the  words  in 

front,  — 

"Welcome,  Freedom's  Defender!  " 

There  were  many  other  similar  decorations.  If  longer  time  had  been 
given,  the  demonstration  would  have  been  other  than  it  was.1  But  it 
was  not  in  decorations  that  the  citizens  of  Boston  welcomed  home  the 
beloved  son  of  Massachusetts  ;  it  was  rather  with  emotion  too  deep  for 
utterance  that  they  received  him. 

The  scene  at  the  State  House  was  beyond  description.  The  area  in 
front,  the  long  range  of  steps  leading  to  the  Capitol,  the  Capitol  itself, 
the  streets  in  the  vicinity,  the  houses  even  to  the  roofs,  were  packed 
with  human  beings.  The  assembled  thousands  greeted  him  with  long 
continued  cheering. 

Mr.  Sumner  arrived  in  front  of  the  Capitol,  where  a  platform  had 
been  erected.  His  Excellency  Governor  Gardner,  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil, and  the  Governor's  Staff  were  escorted  by  the  Sergeant-at-Anns, 
Benjamin  Stevens,  Esq.  Mr.  Sumner  was  then  introduced  by  Pro- 
fessor Huntington  in  an  eloquent  speech,  as  follows. 

"  MAY  rr  PLEASE  TOUR  EXCELLENCY,  —  In  behalf  of  the  Committee  of 
Reception,  I  present  to  your  Excellency  the  Hon.  Charles  Sumner,  Senator 

1  On  the  balcony  of  his  house  in  Beacon  Street,  as  the  procession  passed, 
was  William  H.  Prescott,  the  historian,  with  his  family,  waving  their  hand- 
kerchiefs. The  next  day  Mr.  Prescott  called  on  Mr.  Sumner,  and  said,  that, 
had  he  known  there  would  have  been  decorations  and  inscriptions  on  houses, 
he  should  have  placed  on  his  these  words :  — 
"  May  22, 1856. 

"  Then  I,  and  you,  and  all  of  us  fell  down, 
Whilst  bloody  Treason  nourished  over  us." 


30  PUBLIC   RECEPTION  IN   BOSTON. 

of  Massachusetts  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  It  is  needless  to  re- 
count here  his  services  to  our  Commonwealth,  to  the  whole  Republic,  to  the 
principles  of  a  pure  and  just  nationality,  to  elegant  learning,  to  Christian 
statesmanship,  to  the  liberties  and  the  rights  of  man.  These  are  all  safely 
recorded  in  the  imperishable  history  of  the  country  and  the  race.  How 
deeply  they  are  written  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-citizens  let  this  vast  and 
enthusiastic  concourse  bear  witness.  He  returns  to  his  friends;  but  his 
friends  are  wherever  justice  is  revered.  He  returns  to  his  neighbors;  but  he 
has  a  neighbor  in  every  victim  of  wrong  throughout  the  world.  He  returns 
to  the  State  that  entrusted  her  interests  to  his  charge,  having  proclaimed  — 
according  to  the  spirit  of  her  own  institutions  and  her  people  —  the  doctrine 
of  the  Brotherhood  of  all  States,  in  the  bonds  of  universal  Peace.  He  stands 
at  the  door  of  her  Capitol,  and  in  the  presence  of  her  Chief  Magistrate,  — 
stands  here  her  faithful  steward,  her  eloquent  and  fearless  advocate,  her 
honored  guest,  her  beloved  son!  " 

His  Excellency  replied  briefly  as  follows. 

"  SIR,  —  I  am  admonished  by  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  that  my 
words  must  be  few  and  brief. 

"  This  is  no  political  ovation.  The  Chief  Marshal  of  the  procession  an- 
nounces that  no  political  mottoes  will  be  admitted  into  the  ranks.  By  the 
same  sense  of  propriety  I  am  admonished  that  no  political  phrases  are  ap- 
propriate here. 

"  This  is  the  spontaneous  outpouring  of  your  friends  and  neighbors  and 
fellow-citizens  to  welcome  you  from  your  field  of  intellectual  victory,  —  and 
to  welcome  yon  also  from  your  bed  of  pain  and  suffering.  I  cordially  add 
my  tribute,  humble,  save  what  my  official  station  imparts  to  it,  to  crown 
the  just  and  welcome  offering. 

"  We  hail  you  with  warm  hearts,  not  only  as  the  eloquent  orator,  the  ac- 
complished scholar,  and  the  acknowledged  statesman,  —  not  only  as  the 
earnest  friend  of  suffering  humanity  and  of  every  good  cause,  —  not  only 
as  one  who,  educated  in  the  institutions  and  by  the  altars  and  firesides  of 
Massachusetts,  has  won  for  himself  imperishable  laurels  on  the  arena  of  the 
nation's  conflicts,  — but  especially  now  do  we  welcome  you  as  the  success- 
ful defender  of  her  integrity  and  her  honor.  [Cheers.] 

"  In  her  name  I  declare  that  the  base  and  cowardly  blows  which  fell  on 
yon  struck  through  you  into  her.  Within  the  circuit  of  the  sun's  flight 
after  I  heard  of  that  assault,  before  such  an  assemblage  as  rarely  gathers  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  I  pledged  Massachusetts  to  stand  by  you.  [Loud  applause.'} 

"  And  she  does  stand  by  you  to-day.  She  will  stand  by  yon  to-morrow 
[enthusiastic  cheers];  and  she  will  stand  by  you  in  her  defence  forever. 
[Loud  cheering.'] 

"  I  welcome  yon,  then,  most  cordially  and  warmly,  in  her  name,  again  to 
her  borders.  Every  thrilling  breast  and  kindling  countenance  around  you 
in  this  immense  throng  welcomes  you,  —  Boston  welcomes  you, — Massa- 
chusetts welcomes  you. 


PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON.          31 

"  In  her  name  I  trust  that  the  quiet  of  your  home  may  speedily  restore 
you  to  perfect  health,  so  you  can  again  go  forward  to  your  sphere  of  duty, 
to  new  achievements,  and  new  victories. 

"  And  now,  Gentlemen,  fellow-citizens,  one  word  to  you.  The  duty  of  the 
day  over,  let  us,  one  and  all,  leave  our  distinguished  friend  to  the  undis- 
turbed quiet  of  his  own  home,  to  the  fond  caress  of  one  whose  ear  is  at  this 
moment  bent  in  anxious  watching  for  the  earliest  warning  of  his  approach, 
that  he  may  there  recover,  not  only  from  his  past  illness,  but  from  the  pres- 
ent excitement  and  the  fatigues  of  travel.  At  present  our  kindest  atten- 
tions will  consist  in  scrupulously  avoiding  exacting  intrusions. 

"  To  you,  Sir,  again,  in  the  name  of  our  glorious  old  Commonwealth,  I 
extend  a  cordial  welcome.  [Loud  cheers.]  " 

Three  times  three  cheers  were  then  given  for  Mr.  Sumner,  who  at- 
tempted to  reply  ;  but  his  voice  was  more  feeble  than  in  replying  to 
Mr.  Quincy.  He  spoke,  with  great  difficulty,  as  follows. 


MAY  IT  PLEASE  YOUR  EXCELLENCY, — 

IT  is  a  pleasure  to  be  once  more  among  the  scenes  of 
home ;  to  look  upon  familiar  objects,  —  the  State 
House,  the  Common,  and  well-known  streets.  It  is 
more  pleasant  still  to  behold  the  countenances  of 
friends.  And  all  this  pleasure,  Sir,  is  enhanced  by 
the  welcome  which  you  now  give  me,  in  behalf  of  the 
beloved  Commonwealth  which  for  five  years  I  have 
served,  honestly,  earnestly,  and  constantly,  in  an  im- 
portant field  of  duty,  to  which  I  was  introduced  by  an 
unsought  suffrage. 

Sir,  I  thank  you  for  this  welcome.  I  thank,  also, 
the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  have  honored  this 
occasion  by  their  presence.  I  thank,  too,  these  swell- 
ing multitudes  who  contribute  to  me  the  strength  and 
succor  of  their  sympathies;  and  my  soul  overflows 
especially  to  the  young  men  of  Boston,  out  of  whose 
hearts,  as  from  an  exuberant  fountain,  this  broad- 
spreading  hospitality  took  its  rise. 


32  PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN   BOSTON. 

My  earnest  desire,  often  expressed,  has  been,  that  I 
might  be  allowed  to  return  home  quietly,  without  show 
or  demonstration  of  any  kind.  And  this  longing  was 
enforced  by  my  physical  condition,  which,  though  vast- 
ly improved  at  this  time,  and  advancing  surely  towards 
complete  health,  is  still  exposed  to  the  peril  of  relapse, 
or  at  least  to  the  arrest  of  those  kindly  processes  of 
Nature  essential  to  the  restoration  of  a  shattered  sys- 
tem. But  the  spontaneous  kindness  of  this  reception 
makes  me  forget  my  weakness,  makes  me  forget  my 
desire  for  repose. 

I  thank  you,  Sir,  for  the  suggestion  of  seclusion,  and 
the  security  which  that  suggestion  promises  to  afford. 

Something  more,  Sir,  I  would  say,  but  I  am  admon- 
ished that  voice  and  strength  will  not  permit.  With 
your  permission,  therefore,  I  will  hand  the  reporters 
what  I  should  be  glad  to  say,  that  it  may  be  printed. 

[The  remainder  of  the  speech  is  printed  from  Mr.  Sumner's  manu- 
script.] 

More  than  five  months  have  passed  since  I  was 
disabled  from  the  performance  of  my  public  duties. 
During  this  weary  period  I  have  been  constrained  to 
repeat  daily  the  lesson  of  renunciation,  —  confined  at 
first  to  my  bed,  and  then  only  slowly  regaining  the 
power  even  to  walk.  But,  beyond  the  constant,  irre- 
pressible grief  which  must  well  up  in  the  breast  of 
every  patriot,  as  he  discerns  the  present  condition  of  his 
country,  my  chief  sorrow  has  been  caused  by  the  ne- 
cessity, to  which  I  was  doomed,  of  renouncing  all  part 
in  the  contest  for  human  rights,  which,  beginning  in 
Congress,  has  since  enveloped  the  whole  land.  The 
Grecian  chief,  grievously  ill  of  a  wound  from  the 


PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON.  33 

stealthy  bite  of  a  snake,  and  left  behind  while  his 
companions  sailed  to  the  siege  of  Troy,  did  not  repine 
more  at  his  enforced  seclusion.  From  day  to  day  and 
week  to  week  I  vainly  sought  that  health  which  we 
value  most  when  lost,  and  which  perpetually  eluded  my 
pursuit.  For  health  I  strove,  for  health  I  prayed.  With 
uncertain  steps  I  sought  it  at  the  seashore  and  I  sought 
it  on  the  mountain-top. 

u  Two  voices  are  there :  one  is  of  the  sea, 
One  of  the  mountains ;  each  a  mighty  voice : 
In  both  from  age  to  age  thou  didst  rejoice, 
They  were  thy  chosen  music,  Liberty  !  "  I 

I  listened  to  the  admonitions  of  medical  skill,  and  I 
courted  all  the  bracing  influences  of  Nature,  while  time 
passed  without  the  accustomed  healing  on  its  wings.  I 
had  confidently  hoped  to  be  restored  so  as  to  take  my 
seat  in  the  Senate,  and  to  be  heard  there  again,  long  be- 
fore the  session  closed.  But  Congress  adjourned,  leav- 
ing me  still  an  invalid.  My  next  hope  was,  that  I  might 
be  permitted  to  appear  before  the  people  during  the 
present  canvass,  and  with  heart  and  voice  plead  the 
great  cause  now  in  issue.  Here  again  I  have  been  dis- 
appointed, and  the  thread  of  my  disability  is  not  yet 
spun  to  the  end.  Even  now,  though  happily  lifted  from 
long  prostration,  and  beginning  to  assume  many  of  the 
conditions  of  health,  I  am  constrained  to  confess  that 
I  am  an  invalid,  —  cheered,  however,  by  the  assurance 
that  I  shall  soon  be  permitted,  with  unimpaired  vigor, 
to  resume  all  the  responsibilities  of  my  position. 

Too  much  have  I  said  about  myself;  but  you  will 
pardon  it  to  the  occasion,  which,  being  personal  in 

1  Wordsworth,  Thought  of  a  Briton  on  the  Subjugation  of  Switzerland. 

VOL.  VI.  —  3 


34         PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON. 

character,    invites    these    personal    confessions.     "With 
more  pleasure  I  turn  to  other  things. 

I  should  feel  that  I  failed  in  one  of  those  duties 
which  the  heart  prompts  and  the  judgment  confirms, 
if  I  allowed  this  first  opportunity  to  pass  without  sin- 
cerest  acknowledgment  to  my  able,  generous,  and  faith- 
ful colleague,  Mr.  Wilson.  Together  we  labored  in 
mutual  trust,  honorably  leaning  upon  each  other.  By 
my  disability  he  was  left  sole  representative  of  Massa- 
chusetts on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  throughout  months 
of  heated  contest,  involving  her  good  name  a"nd  most 
cherished  sentiments.  All  who  watched  the  currents 
of  debate,  even  as  imperfectly  as  I  did  in  my  retire- 
ment, know  with  what  readiness,  courage,  and  power 
he  acted,  —  showing  himself,  by  extraordinary  energies, 
equal  to  the  extraordinary  occasion.  But  it  is  my  es- 
pecial happiness  to  recognize  his  unfailing  sympathies 
for  myself,  and  his  manly  assumption  of  all  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  the  hour. 

I  am  not  here  to  indulge  in  eulogy,  nor  to  open 
any  merit-roll  of  service ;  but  the  same  feeling  which 
prompts  these  acknowledgments  to  my  colleague  em- 
braces also  the  Commonwealth  from  whom  we  have 
received  our  trust.  To  Massachusetts,  mother  of  us 
all,  —  great  in  resources,  great  in  children,  —  I  now 
pledge  anew  my  devotion.  Never  before  did  she  in- 
spire equal  pride  and  affection  ;  for  never  before  was 
she  so  completely  possessed  by  those  sentiments  which, 
when  manifest  in  Commonwealth  or  citizen,  invest  the 
character  with  its  highest  charm,  so  that  what  is  sown 
a  natural  body  is  raised  a  spiritual  body.  My  filial 
love  does  not  claim  too  much,  when  it  exhibits  her 


PUBLIC   RECEPTION   IN   BOSTON.  35 

as  approaching  the  pattern  of  a  Christian  Common- 
wealth, which,  according  to  the  great  English  Kepub- 
lican,  John  Milton,  "  ought  to  be  but  as  one  huge  Chris- 
tian personage,  one  mighty  growth  and  stature  of  an 
honest  man,  as  big  and  compact  in  virtue  as  in  body." 1 
Not  through  any  worldly  triumphs,  not  through  the 
vaults  of  State  Street,  the  spindles  of  Lowell,  or  even 
the  learned  endowments  of  Cambridge,  is  Massachu- 
setts thus,  —  but  because,  seeking  to  extend  every- 
where within  the  sphere  of  her  influence  the  benign 
civilization  which  she  cultivates  at  home,  she  stands 
forth  the  faithful,  unseduced  supporter  of  Human  Na- 
ture. Wealth  has  its  splendor,  and  the  intellect  has  its 
glory  ;  but  there  is  a  grandeur  in  such  service  which  is 
above  all  that  these  can  supply.  For  this  she  has 
already  the  regard  of  good  men,  and  will  have  the 
immortal  life  of  history.  For  this  she  has  also  the 
reproach  and  contumely  always  throughout  the  ages 
poured  upon  those  who  have  striven  for  justice  on 
earth.  Not  now  for  the  first  time  in  human  struggles 
has  Truth,  when  most  dishonored,  seemed  most  radiant, 
gathering  glory  even  out  of  obloquy.  When  Sir  Harry 
Vane,  courageous  champion  of  the  English  Common- 
wealth, was  dragged  on  a  hurdle  up  the  Tower  Hill 
to  suffer  death  by  the  axe,  one  of  the  multitude  cried 
out  to  him,  "  That  is  the  most  glorious  seat  you  ever 
sat  on!"2  And  again,  when  Russell  was  exposed  in 
the  streets,  on  his  way  to  a  similar  scaffold,  the  peo- 
ple, according  to  the  simple  narrative  of  his  biogra- 
pher, imagined  they  saw  Liberty  and  Virtue  sitting  by 
his  side.  Massachusetts  is  not  without  encouragement 

1  Of  Reformation  in  England,  Book  II.:  Prose  Works,  ed.  Symmons, 
Vol.  I.  p.  29. 

2  Howell's  State  Trials,  VI.  192. 


36  PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN   BOSTON. 

in  her  own  history.  She  has  seen  her  ports  closed  by 
arbitrary  power,  —  has  seen  her  name  made  a  byword 
of  reproach,  —  has  seen  her  cherished  leaders,  Hancock 
and  Adams,  excepted  from  all  pardon  by  the  crown; 
but  then,  when  most  dishonored,  did  Massachusetts 
deserve  most,  for  then  was  she  doing  most  for  the 
cause  of  all.  And  now,  when  Massachusetts  is  engaged 
in  a  greater  cause  than  that  of  our  fathers,  how  serene- 
ly can  she  turn  from  the  scoff  and  jeer  of  heartless  men ! 
Her  only  disgrace  will  be  in  disloyalty  to  the  truth 
which  is  to  make  her  free. 

Worse  to  bear  —  oh,  far  worse ! — than  the  evil  speak- 
ing of  others  is  the  conduct  of  some  of  her  own  chil- 
dren. It  is  hard  to  see  the  scholarship  which  has  been 
drawn  from  her  cisterns,  and  the  riches  accumulated 
under  her  hospitable  shelter,  now  employed  to  weaken 
and  discredit  that  cause  which  is  above  riches  or  scholar- 
ship. It  is  hard,  while  fellow-citizens  in  Kansas  plead 
for  deliverance  from  a  cruel  Usurpation,  and  while  the 
whole  country,  including  our  own  soil,  is  trodden  down 
by  a  domineering  and  brutal  Despotism,  to  behold  sons 
of  Massachusetts  in  sympathy,  open  or  disguised,  with 
the  vulgar  enemy,  quickening  everywhere  the  lash  of 
the  taskmaster,  and  helping  forward  the  Satanic  carni- 
val, when  Slavery  shall  be  fastened  not  only  upon  pros- 
trate Kansas,  but  upon  all  the  Territories  of  the  Ke- 
public,  —  when  Cuba  shall  be  torn  from  a  friendly  power 
by  dishonest  force,  —  and  when  the  slave-trade  itself, 
with  all  its  crime,  its  woe,  and  its  shame,  shall  be  op- 
ened anew  under  the  American  flag.  Alas,  that  any 
child  of  Massachusetts,  in  wickedness  of  heart,  or  in 
weakness  of  principle,  or  under  the  delusion  of  partisan 
prejudice,  should  join  in  these  things !  With  such  I 


PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON.         37 

have  no  word  of  controversy  at  this  hour.  But,  leaving 
them  now,  in  my  weakness,  I  trust  not  to  seem  too 
severe,  if  I  covet  for  the  occasion  something  of  the  di- 
vine power 

"  To  bend  the  silver  bow  with  tender  skill, 
While,  void  of  pain,  the  silent  arrows  kill."  l 

Gladly  from  these  do  I  turn  to  another  character, 
yet  happily  spared  to  Massachusetts,  whose  heart  beats 
strong  with  the  best  blood  of  the  Eevolution,  and  with 
the  best  sentiments  by  which  that  blood  was  enriched. 
The  only  child  of  one  of  the  authors  of  American  Lib- 
erty, for  many  years  the  able  and  courageous  Eepre- 
sentative  of  Boston  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  where 
his  speeches  were  the  masterpieces  of  the  time,  distin- 
guished throughout  a  long  career  by  the  grateful  trust 
of  his  fellow-citizens,  happy  in  all  the  possessions  of 
a  well-spent  life,  and  surrounded  by  "  honor,  love,  obe- 
dience, troops  of  friends,"  with  an  old  age  which  is 
second  youth,  JOSIAH  QUINCY,  still  erect  under  the 
burden  of  eighty-four  winters,  puts  himself  at  the  head 
of  our  great  battle, —  and  never  before,  in  the  ardor  of 
youth,  or  the  maturity  of  manhood,  did  he  show  himself 
so  grandly  conspicuous,  and  add  so  much  to  the  heroic 
wealth  of  our  history.  His  undaunted  soul,  lifted  al- 
ready to  glimpses  of  another  life,  may  shame  the  fee- 
bler spirits  of  a  later  generation.  There  is  one  other 
personage,  at  a  distant  period,  who,  with  precisely  the 
same  burden  of  winters,  asserted  the  same  supremacy 
of  powers.  It  is  the  celebrated  Dandolo,  Doge  of  Ven- 
ice, at  the  age  of  eighty-four,  of  whom  the  historian 
Gibbon  has  said,  in  words  strictly  applicable  to  our 
own  Quincy :  "  He  shone,  in  the  last  period  of  human 

1  Odyssey,  tr.  Pope,  Book  XV.  410,  411  [460,  451]. 


38  PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON. 

life,  as  one  of  the  most  illustrious  characters  of  the 
times:  under  the  weight  of  years  he  retained  a  sound 
understanding  and  a  manly  courage,  the  spirit  of  an 
hero  and  the  wisdom  of  a  patriot." l  This  old  man 
carried  the  Venetian  Eepublic  over  to  the  Crusaders, 
and  exposed  his  person  freely  to  all  the  perils  of  war, 
so  that  the  historian  describes  him,  in  words  again  ap- 
plicable to  our  day,  saying  :  "  In  the  midst  of  the  con- 
flict, the  Doge,  a  venerable  and  conspicuous  form,  stood 
aloft,  in  complete  armor,  on  the  prow  of  his  galley," 
while  "the  great  standard  of  St.  Mark  was  displayed 
before  him."  2  Before  the  form  of  our  venerable  head  is 
displayed  the  standard  of  a  greater  republic  than  Ven- 
ice, thrilling  with  its  sight  greater  multitudes  than 
ever  gazed  on  the  standard  of  St.  Mark,  while  a  sub- 
limer  cause  is  ours  than  the  cause  of  the  Crusaders  ;  for 
our  task  is  not  to  ransom  an  empty  sepulchre,  but  to 
rescue  the  Saviour  himself,  in  the  bodies  of  his  innu- 
merable children,  —  not  to  dislodge  the  Infidel  from  a 
distant  foreign  soil,  but  to  displace  him  from  the  very 
Jerusalem  of  our  liberties. 

May  it  please  your  Excellency,  I  forbear  to  pro- 
ceed further.  With  thanks  for  this  welcome,  accept 
also  my  new  vows  of  duty.  In  aU  simplicity  let  me 
say  that  I  seek  nothing  but  the  triumph  of  Truth.  To 
this  I  offer  my  best  efforts,  careless  of  office  or  honor. 
Show  me  that  I  am  wrong,  and  I  stop  at  once ;  but  in 
the  complete  conviction  of  right  I  shall  persevere 
against  all  temptations,  against  all  odds,  against  all 
perils,  against  all  threats,  —  knowing  well,  that,  what- 

1  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Chap.  60. 
»  Ibid. 


PUBLIC  RECEPTION  IN  BOSTON.  39 

ever  may  be  my  fate,  the  Eight  will  surely  prevail 
Terrestrial  place  is  determined  by  celestial  observation. 
Only  by  watching  the  stars  can  the  mariner  safely  pur- 
sue his  course ;  and  it  is  only  by  obeying  those  lofty 
principles  which  are  above  men  and  human  passion 
that  we  can  make  our  way  safely  through  the  duties  of 
life.  In  such  obedience  I  hope  to  live,  while,  as  a  ser- 
vant of  Massachusetts,  I  avoid  no  labor,  shrink  from 
no  exposure,  and  complain  of  no  hardship. 

The  cavalcade  then  moved  rapidly  away,  escorting  Mr.  Sumner  to 
his  home  in  Hancock  Street. 

On  arriving-there,  he  was  again  welcomed  with  unbounded  enthusi- 
asm by  a  large  crowd  assembled  in  the  street  and  on  the  sidewalks, 
the  windows  being  filled  on  both  sides  up  and  down  the  street.  The 
crowd  cheered  vociferously  for  Mr.  Sumner,  his  mother,  the  Gover- 
nor, Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  Hon.  N.  P,  Banks,  and  Hon.  Anson  Bur- 
lingame.  Mr.  Sumner  and  his  mother  appeared  at  the  window  and 
bowed  their  acknowledgments,  which  called  forth  general  and  enthu- 
siastic plaudits.  The  multitude  then,  giving  three  parting  cheers  for 
the  distinguished  Senator,  separated,  and  the  ceremonies  of  reception 
terminated. 

Many  of  the  business  firms  closed  their  stores  during  the  afternoon. 
The  paper  agreeing  to  do  so  was  headed  by  A.  &  A.  Lawrence  &  Co., 
Gardner  Brewer  &  Co.,  Parker,  "Wilder,  &  Co.,  Denny,  Rice,  &  Gard- 
ner, Wilkinson,  Stetson,  &  Co.,  Blake,  Bigelow,  &  Co.,  Pierce  Broth- 
ers &  Flanders,  &C. 


AID  FOR  KANSAS. 

LETTEE  TO  HON.  M.  F.  CONWAY,  NOVEMBER  17,  1856. 


HON.  M.  F.  CONWAY,  afterwards  Representative  in  Congress  from 
Kansas,  in  communicating  this  letter  to  the  public,  reported  that 
it  "was  of  great  value  in  securing  the  appropriation  of  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars  by  the  Legislature  of  Vermont  in  aid  of  Kansas. " 

BOSTON,  November  17,  1856. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  Avish  that  I  could  aid  your  efforts 
to  interest  the  State  Legislatures  for  Kansas.  To 
these  Legislatures  I  look  at  this  exigency  for  something 
worthy  of  the  cause  which  is  now  in  jeopardy.  They 
have  the  power,  and  this  is  the  very  moment  to  exert 
it.  God  bless  the  State  which  begins  ! 

Surely  liberty  in  Kansas,  involving  our  own  liberty 
also,  is  worthy  of  every  effort.  To  its  security  every 
citizen  should  contribute  according  to  his  means ;  and  I 
know  no  better  rule  for  the  State  Legislatures  than  for 
the  citizen.  These  Legislatures  should  all  contribute 
according  to  their  means,  —  the  more,  the  better.  And 
such  contributions,  like  every  other  charity,  will  be 
twice  blessed. 

Accept  my  best  wishes  for  Kansas,  and  believe,  me, 
dear  Sir. 

Faithfully  yours, 

CHAELES  SUMNER. 

JUDGE  CONWAY,  of  Kansas. 


CONGKATULATION  ON  REELECTION  OF  ANSON  BURLIN- 
GAME  AS  REPRESENTATIVE  IN  CONGRESS. 

LETTER  TO  A  BANQUET  AT  FANEUIL  HALL,  NOVEMBER  24,  1856. 


HANCOCK  STREET, 
Monday  Evening,  November  24,  1856. 

DEAE  SIR,  —  I  am  sorry  to  renounce  any  oppor- 
tunity of  doing  honor  to  Mr.  Burlingame ;  but  my 
careful  physician  does  not  allow  me  yet  to  take  part  in 
the  excitement  of  a  public  meeting,  and  I  yield  to  his 
prescription. 

My  best  wishes  attend  your  distinguished  guest  to- 
night and  always.  His  recent  triumph  is  the  occasion 
of  special  joy,  not  only  in  Massachusetts,  but  every- 
where throughout  the  free  North.  Many  who  voted 
against  him  must,  in  their  better  moments,  condemn 
themselves,  —  as  much  as  they  have  been  condemned 
by  others.  If  not  entirely  dead  to  generous  impulses, 
they  must  be  glad  that  they  failed.  If  not  entirely  in- 
sensible to  appearances,  they  must  look  with  regret  at 
the  means  employed  to  accomplish  the  end  proposed. 
If  not  entirely  indifferent  to  principles,  they  must  look 
with  amazement  at  the  unprecedented,  incongruous,  and 
eccentric  political  conglomerate  of  which  they  consti- 
tuted a  part. 

It  was  natural  that  the  propagandists  of  Slavery, 
acting  under  dictation  from  Washington,  should  vote 
against  Mr.  Burlingame.  It  was  natural  that  others, 


42  REELECTION   OF  ANSON   BURLINGAME. 

who  allow  themselves  to  be  controlled  by  the  rancors 
and  jealousies  of  party,  should  do  likewise.  But  it 
was  hard  that  this  blow  at  Freedom  should  be  at- 
tempted in  the  name  of  Trade,  and  that  merchants  of 
Boston  should  be  rallied  against  a  candidate  who  had 
done  so  much  to  make  Boston  respectable.  And  yet 
this  extraordinary  conduct  is  not  without  parallel  in 
history.  The  earliest  antislavery  effort  of  England  was 
against  the  Barbary  corsairs,  and  this,  it  is  well  known, 
was  opposed  by  "the  mercantile  interest."  And  this 
same  "  mercantile  interest,"  as  you  also  know,  set  itself 
against  the  great  antislavery  enterprise  of  Clarkson  and 
Wilberforce,  when  they  demanded  the  suppression  of 
the  slave-trade.  Such  examples  teach  us  not  to  be 
disappointed,  when  this  interest  is  invoked  against  our 
efforts.  But  I  rejoice  to  know  that  in  Boston  there  are 
honorable  exceptions,  and,  if  anything  be  expected  from 
me  to-night,  let  it  be  a  tribute  to  one  of  these.  I  pro- 
pose the  following  toast. 

The  Merchants  of  Boston.  —  May  they  all  appreciate  the 
spirit  of  him  among  their  number,  who,  when  pressed  to 
vote  against  Mr.  Burlingame  on  mercantile  grounds,  nobly 
replied  at  once,  "  I  am  a  merchant,  but  at  the  polls  I  mean 
to  be  a  patriot." 

Accept  my  thanks  for  the  honor  of  your  invitation, 
and  believe  me,  dear  Sir, 

Faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 
JOSEPH  STORY, 


THE  LATE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  OUR 
BUNKER  HILL, 

LETTER  TO  A  COMMITTEE  AT  WORCESTER,  NOVEMBER  24,  1856. 


BOSTON,  November  24,  1856. 

MY  DEAE  SIR,  —  Not  willingly  do  I  give  up  the 
opportunity  of  uniting  with  the  gallant  Eepub- 
licans  of  Worcester  in  celebrating  our  recent  victories ; 
but  my  health,  though  vastly  improved,  has  limitations 
which  I  cannot  with  prudence  neglect,  and  these  forbid 
the  indulgence  to  which  you  kindly  invite  me.  Please 
tender  to  the  Eepublicans  my  cordial  congratulations. 
Clearly  do  I  see  the  beginning  of  the  end.  All  New 
England,  with  New  York,  Ohio,  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
and  Iowa,  constitute  an  irresistible  phalanx  for  Free- 
dom, while  our  seeming  reverse  in  the  Presidential 
election  is  only  another  Bunker  Hill.  If  toasts  are 
in  order  at  your  festival,  let  me  propose  the  follow- 
ing. 

The  late  Presidential  Election.  —  Like  Bunker  Hill,  it 
teaches  us  our  strength,  and  gives  assurance  of  speedy 
triumph. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir,  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNEE. 


LET  MASSACHUSETTS  HELP  KANSAS. 

LETTER  TO  JAMES  REDPATH,  ESQ.,  JANUARY  10,  1857. 


HANCOCK  STREET,  January  10,  1857. 

MY  DEAE  SIR,  —  I  ain  happy  that  you  are  still 
active  for  Kansas.  Much  remains  to  be  done. 
Indeed,  I  think  that  no  effort  can  be  safely  relaxed, 
until  the  Territory  is  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a 
Free  State. 

The  Slave  Oligarchy  has  not  yet  abandoned  its  dar- 
ling idea  of  a  new  Slave  State,  and  this  can  be  defeated 
only  by  vigilance.  The  lull  which  seems  now  to  pre- 
vail does  not  persuade  me  to  repose.  Too  much  is  at 
stake.  Besides,  I  have  read  the  fable  of  the  cat  in  the 
meal. 

Of  course,  emigrants  who  love  Freedom,  and,  if  need 
be,  are  willing  to  die  in  her  cause,  must  be  encouraged 
to  plant  themselves  in  the  Territory.  But  we  who  stay 
at  home  must  contribute  to  their  comfort  and  protec- 
tion, and,  since  this  can  be  done  most  effectively  through 
State  Legislatures,  these  must  be  enlisted.  The  name 
of  a  State  Legislature  will  be  a  tower  of  strength. 

Massachusetts,  which,  throughout  our  history,  has 
led  in  every  liberal  movement,  must  lead  now  by  a 
generous  appropriation,  which,  if  not  needed,  may  not 
be  used,  but  which,  in  any  alternative,  will  be  an 
irresistible  token  of  her  sincerity,  an  example  to  other 


LET  MASSACHUSETTS  HELP  KANSAS.  45 

States,  and  a  fountain  of  encouragement  to  distant 
fellow-citizens.  I  cannot  believe  that  Massachusetts 
will  hesitate.  Her  people  have  already  opened  their 
hearts  to  Kansas,  and  the  public  treasury  should  be 
opened  as  wide  as  their  hearts. 

Accept  my  thanks  for  the  good  you  have  done  and 
the  good  you  are  still  doing,  and  believe  me,  my  dear 
Sir,  with  much  regard, 

Faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNEE. 

JAKES  REDPATH,  Esq. 


ACCEPTANCE  OF  SENATORSHIP,  ON  REELECTION. 

LETTER  TO  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 
JANUARY  22,  1857. 


IN  the  winter  of  1856,  the  American  party  having  the  control  of  the 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  members  of  this  party  were  reported  as 
entering  into  a  plan  to  choose  a  Senator  in  place  of  Mr.  Sumner  at  the 
expiration  of  his  term,  March  4,  1857,  thus  anticipating  the  action  of 
the  Legislature  to  be  chosen  in  the  autumn  following.  The  plan  was 
discussed  in  newspapers  and  in  contemporary  letters.  It  excited  the 
anxiety  of  Mr.  Sumner's  political  friends  so  far,  that,  at  their  request,  he 
was  induced  to  obtain  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  the  adverse 
precedents,  which  were  published  at  the  time  in  the  newspapers.  The 
discussion  of  the  question  was  arrested  by  the  event  which  soon  fol- 
lowed, turning  all  eyes  to  him,  and  making  him  more  than  ever  the 
representative  of  Massachusetts. 

The  new  Legislature  seemed  to  have  been  constituted  for  the  reelec- 
tion of  Mr.  Sumner.  It  came  together  January  7,  1857,  when,  even 
before  the  message  of  the  Governor,  it  was  insisted  that  the  election 
should  be  proceeded  with,  and  January  9th  was  fixed  upon  for  this 
purpose.  On  that  day,  in  pursuance  of  an  order  of  the  House,  the 
Clerk  called  the  roll  of  members,  when  each  responded  viva  voce  with 
the  name  of  the  person  for  whom  he  voted,  as  follows. 

Charles  Sumner,  of  Boston, 333 

Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of  Boston, 3 

Nathaniel  J.  Lord,  of  Salem, 2 

George  W.  Gordon,  of  Boston, 

Erasmus  D.  Beach,  of  Springfield, 1 

Charles  B.  Goodrich,  of  Boston, 

Otis  P.  Lord,  of  Salem, * 

Edward  Everett,  of  Boston,    ..••••• 

William  Appleton,  of  Boston, * 

Rufus  Choate,  of  Boston, 1 

Total  vote,        ...  ".- 845 

Members  absent  or  not  voting, 10 

Whole  number  of  members,    .....«•  366 


ACCEPTANCE  OF  SENATORSHIP  ON  REELECTION.   47 

The  announcement  of  the  vote  was  received  with  applause. 

In  the  Senate  the  vote  was  taken  in  the  same  way,  January  13th,  and 
every  member  responded  with  the  name  of  "Charles  Sumner,  of  Bos- 
ton," the  vote  being  unanimous,  when  the  President  announced  that 
"Hon.  CHARLES  SCMNER,  of  Boston,  having  received  the  entire  vote 
of  the  Senate,  in  concurrence  with  the  House,  is  elected  United  States 
Senator  from  this  State  for  the  term  of  six  years  from  the  fourth  of 
March  next." 

The  Boston  Daily  Advertiser  noticed  this  event  as  follows. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  refrain  from  comparing  the  election  of  yesterday  with 
Mr.  Sumner's  previous  election  in  the  same  place  six  years  ago.  Now  he 
receives  nearly  all  the  votes,  on  the  first  ballot,  taken  on  the  third  day  of 
the  session,  every  member  speaking  aloud  his  vote.  Then  he  received  only 
the  exact  number  necessary  for  a  choice,  —  one  more  than  half  the  whole 
number;  and  the  election  was  not  effected  until  the  twenty-sixth  ballot, 
taken  on  the  one  hundred  and  fourteenth  day  of  the  session  (April  24, 1851), 
and  the  votes  were  thrown  in  sealed  envelopes.  Then  he  was  the  candi- 
date of  a  party  which  threw  27,636  votes  in  the  State,  at  the  preceding 
popular  election,  or  about  one  fifth  of  the  whole  number.  Now  he  is  the 
candidate  of  a  party  which  threw  108,190  votes  in  the  State,  at  the  last 
popular  election,  or  about  two  thirds  of  the  whole  number.  Then  he  was 
chosen  to  a  body  where  he  could  expect  to  find  but  two  or  three  associates 
sympathizing  with  his  sentiments.  Now  he  is  a  member  of  a  party  which 
has  a  majority  in  the  lower  House  of  Congress,  and  numbers  a  quarter  of 
the  members  even  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  Truly,  tempora  mu- 
tantur,  nos  et  mutamur  in  illis." 

The  New  York  Tribune  had  the  following  comment. 

"  We  need  not;  in  view  of  recent  events,  point  out  the  change  which  has 
taken  place  in  the  public  sentiment  of  Massachusetts.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  Mr.  Sumner  is  at  this  moment  the  most  popular  man  in  the 
State,  the  opinions  of  which  he  so  truly  represents.  Nor  will  it  do  to  attrib- 
ute this  general  love,  honor,  and  sympathy  entirely  to  the  felonious  assault 
made  upon  Mr.  Sumner.  Had  he  been  less  true  to  the  cause  committed  to 
his  keeping,  had  he  trimmed  and  temporized,  and  spoken  softly  when  he 
should  have  spoken  sharply,  he  would  have  been  safe  from  the  bludgeon  of 
the  bully,  and  might  have  won  the  smiles  instead  of  the  expectorations  of  a 
certain  servile  Senator.  The  people  of  Massachusetts  have  estimated  Mr. 
Sumner's  service  in  all  its  length  and  breadth ;  they  have  duly  weighed  all 
its  incidents  and  indignities,  — what  he  has  suffered,  what  he  has  accom- 
plished, and  what  he  has  failed  to  accomplish;  and  their  verdict,  expressed 
in  yesterday's  almost  unanimous  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  be- 
stows upon  him  a  crown  of  honor  which  may  well  assuage  the  hope  deferred 
of  a  tardy  convalescence.  Few  public  men  have  had  such  large  opportu- 
nities, few  public  men  have  so  nobly  improved  them." 


48        ACCEPTANCE  OF  SENATORSHIP   ON  REELECTION. 

On  the  23d  of  January,  1857,  Hon.  Charles  A.  Phelps,  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  laid  before  the  House  the  following  let- 
ter, which  was  read,  and,  on  motion  of  Hon.  Charles  Hale,  of  Boston, 
entered  at  large  upon  the  Journal. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS    OF  THE   SENATE    AND  HOUSE    OF    REPRESENTA- 
TIVES, — 

I  HAVE  been  officially  notified  that  the  people  of 
Massachusetts,  by  concurrent  votes  of  both  branches 
of  the  Legislature,  have  charged  me  with  the  duty  of 
representing  them  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
for  another  term  of  six  years,  on  the  expiration  of  that 
which  I  now  have  the  honor  to  hold.  This  renewed 
trust  I  accept  with  gratitude  enhanced  by  the  peculiar 
circumstances  under  which  it  is  bestowed.  But  far 
beyond  every  personal  gratification  is  the  delight  of 
knowing,  by  this  sign,  that  the  people  of  Massachusetts, 
forgetting  ancient  party  hates,  have  at  last  come  to- 
gether in  fraternal  support  of  a  sacred  cause,  compared 
with  which  the  fate  of  any  public  servant  is  of  small 
account. 

When  first  selected  for  this  eminent  trust,  I  was  a 
stranger  to  all  official  life.  Untried  in  public  affairs,  I 
was  taken  up,  and  placed,  without  effort  of  my  own,  and 
even  without  antecedent  aspiration,  in  the  station  where, 
after  an  experience  of  nearly  six  years,  you  now,  with 
spontaneous  unanimity,  bid  me  remain.  About  to  com- 
mence a  fresh  term  of  service,  I  turn  with  honest  pride 
to  that  which  is  about  to  close,  while  I  greet  anew  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  my  position,  —  hoping, 
that,  by  conscientious  endeavor,  I  may  do  something  in 
the  future  better  than  in  the  past,  and  mindful  that  "he 
that  girdeth  on  his  harness  should  not  boast  himself  as 
he  that  putteth  it  off." 


ACCEPTANCE  OF  SENATORSHIP  ON  REELECTION.   49 

The  duties  of  a  public  servant  are  not  always  con- 
spicuous. Much  of  his  time  is  absorbed  in  cares  which, 
if  not  obscure,  are  little  calculated  to  attract  public  at- 
tention. Massachusetts  justly  expects  that  no  such  in- 
terests shall  be  neglected.  But,  by  solemn  resolutions 
of  her  Legislature,  by  the  votes  of  her  people,  and  by 
the  voice  of  her  history,  Massachusetts  especially  en- 
joins upon,  her  representatives  to  see,  that,  at  all  haz- 
ards, and  whatever  else  may  suffer,  Freedom  shall  pre- 
vail. I  cannot  neglect  this  injunction. 

Alike  by  sympathy  with  the  slave  and  by  determina- 
tion to  save  ourselves  from  wretched  thraldom,  we  are 
all  summoned  to  the  effort  now  organized  for  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  National  Government  from  a  degrad- 
ing influence,  hostile  to  civilization,  which,  wherever  it 
shows  itself,  even  at  a  distance,  is  brutal,  vulgar,  and 
mean,  constituting  an  unnatural  tyranny,  calculated  to 
arouse  the  generous  indignation  of  good  men.  Of  course, 
no  person,  unless  ready  to  say  in  his  heart  that  there  is 
no  God,  can  doubt, the  certain  result.  But  this  result, 
like  every  great  good,  can  be  accomplished  only  by 
well-directed  effort.  I  know  something  of  the  labor 
and  trial  which  such  service  imposes;  I  also  know 
something  of  the  satisfaction  it  affords,  giving  to  all 
who  truly  espouse  it  a  better  joy  than  anything  in  office 
or  honor.  In  the  weary  prostration  of  months,  from 
which  I  have  now  happily  risen,  the  sharpest  pang 
came  out  of  my  enforced  separation  from  the  cause 
which  was  so  dear  to  me ;  and  now  my  content  is  in 
the  assurance  that  to  this  service  I  may  dedicate  the 
vigorous  health  which,  through  medical  care  and  the 
kindly  ministrations  of  Nature,  I  am  permitted  to  ex- 
pect. In  this  well-founded  assurance,  I  welcome  the 

VOL.  VI.  — 4 


50   ACCEPTANCE  OF  SENATORSHTP  ON  REELECTION. 

trust  which  has  been  again  conferred  upon  me,  while  I 
once  more  bespeak  the  candid  judgment  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  and  once  more  invoke  the  guardianship  of  a 
benignant  Providence. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  fellow-citizens,  with  grateful 
regard, 

Your  faithful  servant  and  Senator, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

BOSTON,  January  22,  1857. 

The  following  tribute,  taken  from  contemporary  newspapers,  attests  a 
feeling  much  above  that  of  ordinary  politics,  and  therefore  illustrates 
this  record. 

"'CHARLES  SUMNER,  OF  BOSTON.' 

" '  Three  hundred  and  thirty-three  members  answered  to  their  names,  with 
the  words,  "CHARLES  SUMNER,  of  Boston";  and  as  the  Clerk  re- 
sponded with  the  same  words  to  each  vote,  they  rang  upon  the  ears  of  the 
large  assembly  more  than  six  hundred  times  during  the  hour  occupied  with 
calling  the  roll.' 

" '  It  is  said,  no  sound  is  ever  lost,  —  that  every  word  uttered  upon  earth 
is  echoed  and  reechoed  through  space  forever.' 

"  Old  Massachusetts !  nobly  thou 
This  day  thy  work  hast  done ; 
Proudly  thou  speakest  for  the  Right, 
And  for  thy  honored  son : 

"  Three  hundred  voices  on  the  air, 
Ringing  the  loved  name  forth; 
Three  hundred  voices  echoing  back, 
'  CHARLES  SUMNER,  of  the  North ! ' 

41  Throughout  the  land,  beyond  the  sea, 

The  voices  will  be  heard ; 
His  name  shall  stand  for  Liberty, 
The  freeman's  rallying  word. 

"  Throughout  the  land,  beyond  the  sea, 

Above,  in  arches  high, 
Voices  are  ever  echoing 
A  name  that  ne'er  will  die. 


ACCEPTANCE  OF  SENATORSHIP  ON  REELECTION.        51 

"  Unfurl  the  banners !  even  now 

The  stars  more  brightly  shine: 
Is  one  more  glorious  than  the  rest  ? 
Old  Bay  State,  it  is  thine! 

"  Gather  fresh  laurels,  twine  two  wreaths, 

Wreaths  for  a  victory  won,  — 
Loved  Massachusetts,  one  for  thee, 
One  for  thy  chosen  soul " 


GRATITUDE  FOR  SYMPATHY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF 
VERMONT, 

LETTER  TO  HON.  RYLAND  FLETCHER,  GOVERNOR  OF  VERMONT, 
MARCH  7,  1857. 


THE  Legislature  of  Vermont,  at  its  recent  session,  passed  a  series  of 
joint  resolutions,  highly  complimentary,  and  indorsing  Mr.  Sumner's 
last  speech  in  the  Senate.  On  receiving  a  copy,  Mr.  Sumner  wrote 
the  following  reply. 

NEW  YORK,  Saturday,  March  7,  1857. 
To  His  EXCELLENCY,  RYLAND  FLETCHER,  GOVERNOR  OF  VERMONT. 

SIR,  —  At  the  last  moment  before  leaving  for  for- 
eign lands  in  quest  of  that  vigorous  health  which 
for  nearly  ten  months  has  been  taken  from  me,  I  have 
received  notice  of  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Le- 
gislature of  Vermont,  and  approved  by  your  Excellency, 
which  give  the  official  sanction  of  a  generous,  virtuous, 
and  intelligent  State  to  my  speech  in  the  Senate  on  the 
19th  and  20th  of  May  last,  exposing  the  Crime  against 
Kansas.  Such  a  token  is  precious  to  me  in  every  re- 
spect, —  not  only  because  it  assures  me  of  the  personal 
sympathy  of  the  people  of  Vermont,  declared  through 
their  representatives,  but  because  it  attests  their  inter- 
est in  that  cause  which  is  more  important  than  any 
person. 

I  cannot  accept  this  public  approval  of  my  speech 
without  seizing  the  occasion  to  express  a  heartfelt  joy 
that  I  was  permitted  to  make  it,  and  also  my  humble 


GRATITUDE  FOR  SYMPATHY  OF  VERMONT.      53 

determination,  with  returning  strength,  to  do  something 
that  shall  still  further  unmask  the  portentous  Barbar- 
ism which  has  fastened  on  our  Bepublic,  and  installed 
itself  in  all  the  high  places  of  power. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir,  with  much  respect, 
Your  faithful  servant, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 


A  LAST  WORD  FOR  KANSAS,  ON  SAILING  FOR 
EUROPE. 

LETTER  TO  JAMES  REDPATH,  ESQ.,  MARCH  7,  1857. 


ON  BOARD  STEAMSHIP  FULTON,  March  7,  1857. 

MY  DEAR  SIB,  —  I  trust  that  you  and  our  friends 
will  not  be  disheartened  in  efforts  for  Kansas. 
Much  must  still  be  done,  or  the  night  of  Slavery  will 
settle  down  on  that  beautiful  Territory. 

Surely  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  will  feel  the 
inspiration  of  a  great  cause,  and  pledge  itself  by  a  gen- 
erous appropriation  to  its  support.  I  hear  of  constitu- 
tional impediments,  but  I  believe  that  all  such  will  be 
found  to  have  bottom  in  the  lukewarm  hearts  of  ob- 
jectors rather  than  in  the  Constitution. 

There  are  some  who  think  that  anything  for  Slavery- 
is  constitutional,  but  nothing  for  Freedom.  With  me 
the  opposite  rule  prevails,  and  I  venture  to  say  that 
any  other  rule  must  bring  discredit  upon  a  country 
calling  itself  a  Commonwealth. 

I  trust,  also,  that  the  people  of  Kansas  will  stand 
firm,  and  that,  if  need  be,  they  will  know  how  to  die 
for  Freedom.  Do  any  sigh  for  a  Thermopylae  ?  They 
have  it  in  Kansas,  for  there  is  to  be  fought  the  great 
battle  between  Freedom  and  Slavery,  —  by  the  ballot- 
box,  I  trust ;  but  I  do  not  forget  that  all  who  destroy 
the  ballot-box  madly  invoke  the  cartridge-box. 

With  a  farewell  to  my  country,  as  I  seek  a  foreign 


A  LAST  WORD  FOR  KANSAS.  55 

land,  hoping  for  health  long  deferred,  I  give  my  last 
thoughts  to  suffering  Kansas,  with  devout  prayers  that 
the  ruffian  Usurpation  which  now  treads  her  down  may 
be  peaceably  overthrown,  and  that  she  may  be  lifted 
into  the  enjoyment  of  freedom  and  repose. 

Ever  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

P.  S.     I  entrust  this  to  the  pilot,  and  hope  it  may 
reach  you. 

JAKES  REDPATH,  Esq. 


INVITATION  TO  DINNER  BY  AMERICAN 
MERCHANTS  IN  PARIS. 

LETTER  TO  THE  AMERICAN  MERCHANTS  AT  PARIS, 
APRIL  20,  1857. 


THE  following  correspondence,  with  its  brief  introduction,  is  copied 
from  Galignanis  Messenger  at  Paris. 

"SENATOR  SUMNER,  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. —  This  distinguished  Ameri- 
can statesman  and  orator  has  been  tendered  a  public  dinner  by  the  Ameri- 
can merchants  residing  at  Paris,  in  the  following  complimentary  terms. 

"PARIS,  April  28, 1867. 

"DEAR  SIR, —  The  American  merchants  residing  in  Paris,  desirous  of 
expressing  their  high  regard  and  admiration  for  your  noble  independence 
and  distinguished  services  as  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  respectfully 
invite  you  to  meet  them  at  a  public  dinner,  to  be  given  at  such  a  time 
during  your  sojourn  in  Paris  as  may  be  most  convenient  to  yourself. 

"  Though  well  aware  that  you  are  habitually  accustomed  to  decline  all 
similar  requests,  we  earnestly  hope  you  will  yield  to  our  wishes. 
"  "  As  citizens  of  the  great  Republic,  representing  many  States,  and  all 
actively  engaged  in  commercial  life,  we  tender  you  this  tribute,  as  an  evi- 
dence of  our  appreciation  of  your  elevated  patriotism,  unbending  integrity, 
and  spotless  honor. 

"  With  the  highest  esteem,  we  have  the  honor  to  be  your  friends  and  fellow- 
citizens. 

"  JOHN  MUNROE,  C.  L.  SHARPSTEEN, 

B.  G.  WAINWRIGHT,  HENRY  WOODS, 

ELLIOT  C.  COWDIN,  W.  ENDICOTT,  JR., 

SAMUKL  P.  HOLMES,  JOHN  C.  MARTIN, 

A.  P.  MOXTANT,  WALTER  H.  LEWIS, 

THOMAS  N.  DALE,  GEORGE  L.  TODD, 

G.  F.  T.  REED,  DAVID  LANE, 

JAMES  W.  TUCKER,  V.  MUMFORD  MOORE, 

GEORGE  T.  RICHARDS,  J.  H.  DEMING, 

A.  K.  P.  COOPER,  Jos.  D.  B.  CURTIS." 
GEORGE  MILNE, 


LETTER  TO  AMERICAN  MERCHANTS  AT  PARIS.        57 

To  this  invitation  Mr.  Stunner  returned  the  following  reply. 

"  HOTEL  DE  LA  PAIX,  RUE  DE  LA  PAIX, 

April  30,  1857. 

GENTLEMEN,  — I  have  been  honored  by  your 
communication  of  the  28th  April,  where,  after  re- 
ferring to  my  services  as  Senator  of  the  United  States, 
in  language  generous  beyond  the  ordinary  experience  of 
political  life,  you  are  pleased  to  invite  me,  in  the  name 
of  the  American  merchants  residing  in  Paris,  to  a  pub- 
lic dinner,  at  such  time  as  may  be  most  convenient  to 
myself. 

The  voice  of  hospitality  is  pleasant  in  a  strange  land. 
But  the  hospitality  which  you  offer  is  enhanced  by  the 
character  and  number  of  those  who  unite  in  it,  among 
whom  I  recognize  well-known  names,  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  the  commerce  of  my  country  in  one  of  its 
most  important  outposts. 

There  is  one  aspect  in  which  your  invitation  is  espe- 
cially grateful.  It  is  this.  If  I  have  been  able  to  do 
anything  not  unworthy  of  your  approbation,  it  is  be- 
cause I  never  failed,  whether  in  majorities  or  minori- 
ties, against  all  obloquy,  and  at  every  hazard,  to  uphold 
those  principles  of  Liberty  which,  just  in  proportion  as 
they  prevail  under  our  Constitution,  make  us  an  exam- 
ple to  the  nations.  And  since  my  public  course  cannot 
be.  unknown  to  you,  I  am  permitted  to  infer  that  the 
public  testimony  with  which  you  now  honor  me  is 
offered  in  some  measure  to  those  principles,  —  dearer 
to  me  than  any  personal  distinction,  —  with  which  I  am 
proud  to  know  that  my  name  is  associated. 

The  invitation  you  send  me,  coming  from  such  a  source, 
couched  in  terms  so  nattering,  and  possessing  such  an 
import,  presents  a  temptation  difficult  to  resist.  But  I 


58        LETTER  TO   AMERICAN   MERCHANTS   AT  PARIS. 

am  admonished  by  the  state  of  my  health,  which  is  yet 
far  from  its  natural  vigor,  that  I  must  not  listen  to  it, 
except  to  express  my  gratitude.  In  making  this  excuse, 
let  me  fortify  myself  by  the  confession  that  I  left  home 
mainly  to  withdraw  from  the  excitements  of  public  life, 
and  particularly  from  all  public  speaking,  in  the  assur- 
ance that  by  such  withdrawal,  accompanied  by  that  re- 
laxation which  is  found  in  change  of  pursuit,  my  con- 
valescence would  be  completed.  The  good  physician 
under  whose  advice  I  have  acted  would  not  admit  that 
by  crossing  the  sea  I  had  been  able  at  once  to  alter  all 
the  conditions  under  which  his  advice  was  given. 

I  cannot  turn  coldly  from  the  opportunity  you  offer 
me.  My  heart  overflows  with  best  wishes  for  your- 
selves individually,  and  also  for  the  commerce  which 
you  conduct,  mingled  with  aspirations  that  your  influ- 
ence may  always  add  to  the  welfare  and  just  renown  of 
our  country.  As  American  merchants  at  Paris,  you  are 
representatives  of  the  United  States  on  a  foreign  mis- 
sion, without  diplomatic  salary  or  diplomatic  privilege. 
But  it  belongs  to  the  felicity  of  your  position  that  what 
you  do  well  for  yourselves  will  be  well  for  your  coun- 
try, and,  more  than  any  diplomacy,  will  contribute  to 
strengthen  the  friendly  ties  of  two  powerful  nations. 
Pardon  the  allusion,  when  I  add  that  you  are  the  daily 
industrious  workmen  in  that  mighty  loom  whose  frame 
stands  on  the  coasts  of  opposite  continents,  whose 
threads  are  Atlantic  voyages,  whose  colors  are  the  vari- 
ous enterprises  and  activities  of  a  beneficent  commerce, 
and  whose  well-wrought  product  is  a  radiant,  speaking 
tissue,  —  more  beautiful  to  the  mind's  eye  than  any 
fabric  of  rarest  French  skill,  more  marvellous  than  any 
tapestry  woven  for  kings,  —  where  every  color  mingles 


LETTER  TO   AMERICAN   MERCHANTS  AT  PARIS.        59 

with  every  thread  in  completest  harmony  and  on  the 
grandest  scale,  to  display  the  triumphs  and  the  blessings 
of  Peace. 

Accept  the  assurance   of   the    sincere   regard  with 
which  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Gentlemen, 

Your  faithful  servant  and  fellow-citizen, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

To  JOHN  MTOROE, 
B.  G-.  WAINWRIGHT, 
ELLIOT  C.  COWDIN,  Esqrs., 

and  others,  American  merchants  at  Paris. 


The  vigilant  spirit  of  Slavery  did  not  fail  to  note  this  correspond- 
ence. Immediately  upon  its  appearance,  a  well-known  Virginian,  the 
reputed  owner  of  krge  plantations  in  right  of  his  wife,  and  long  resi- 
dent in  Paris,  addressed  a  letter  to  Galignanfs  Messenger,  in  which  he 
undertook  to  set  forth  what  he  called  Mr.  Simmer's  mission  in  Europe. 
Here  is  a  specimen. 

"  That  mission,  certainly  '  without  any  diplomatic  privilege,'  but  perad- 
venture  not  without  perquisites,  is  to  initiate,  and,  if  the  exigencies  of  the 
cotton  market  and  manufacture  do  not  forbid  it,  to  organize,  a  systematic 
agitation  in  this  and  the  British  capital  against  the  Southern  States  of  the 
Confederacy,  and  that  '  peculiar  institution '  of  theirs,  so  tenderly  nursed 
of  yore,  and  transmitted  to  them  by  dear  Old  Mother  England,  and  which  in 
very  modern  times  has  been  not  less  cherished  and  sustained  by  the  '  enter- 
prise and  activity'  on  the  coast  of  Africa  of  some  of  her  Puritanical 
progeny  in  the  New  World.  Under  these  circumstances  can  any  such  sub- 
dolous  plea  as  that  put  forward  excuse  these  '  American  merchants '  from 
lending  themselves  to  such  agencies  and  influences  ?  If  they  were  sordid 
and  self-seeking  adventurers,  in  pursuit  of  political  capital,  rather  than  the 
honorable  rewards  of  a  liberal  and  enlightened  trade,  one  could  understand, 
or  rather  would  not  marvel  at,  this  pseudo-patriotic  partisanship,  this  un- 
fraternal  display  of  their  sectioned  colors  in  a  foreign  land." 

Thus  was  the  invalid  in  search  of  health  pursued  by  the  same  malign 
spirit  from  which  he  had  originally  suffered. 


OUR  POLITICS  SEEN  FROM  A  DISTANCE, 

LETTER  TO  A  FRIEND,  DATED  HEIDELBERG,  SEPTEMBER  11,  1857. 

THE  following  letter  found  its  way  into  the  papers  of  the  time. 

HEIDELBERG,  September  11,  1857. 

MY  DEAR ,  —  Weeks  have  now  passed  since 
I  have  seen  a  letter  or  newspaper  from  home. 
During  this  time  I  have  been  travelling  away  from 
news,  and  am  now  famished.  On  arrival  at  Antwerp, 
I  trust  to  find  letters  at  last. 

I  have  been  ransacking  Switzerland ;  I  have  visited 
most  of  its  lakes,  and  crossed  several  of  its  moun- 
tains, mule-back.  My  strength  has  not  allowed  me  to 
venture  upon  any  of  those  foot  expeditions,  the  charm 
of  Swiss  travel,  by  which  you  reach  places  out  of  the 
way  ;  but  I  have  seen  much,  and  have  gained  health 
constantly. 

I  have  crossed  the  Alps  by  the  St.  Gothard,  and  then 
recrossed  by  the  Grand  St.  Bernard,  passing  a  night 
with  the  monks  and  dogs.  I  have  spent  a  day  at  the 
foot  of  Mont  Blanc,  and  another  on  the  wonderful  Lake 
Leman.  I  have  been  in  the  Pyrenees,  in  the  Alps,  in 
the  Channel  Isles.  You  will  next  hear  of  me  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland. 

I  see  our  politics  now  in  distant  perspective,  and  I 
am  more  than  ever  satisfied  that  our  course  is  rierht. 

.  o 

It  is  Slavery  which  degrades  our  country,  and  prevents 


OUR  POLITICS  SEEN  FROM  A  DISTANCE.  61 

its  example  from  being  all-conquering.  In  fighting  our 
battle  at  home  we  fight  the  battle  of  Freedom  every- 
where. Be  assured,  I  shall  return,  not  only  with  re- 
newed strength,  but  with  renewed  determination  to 
give  myself  to  our  great  cause. 

Ever  sincerely  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 


FAREWELL  ON   SAILING  FOR  EUROPE 
A  SECOND  TIME  IN  QUEST  OF  HEALTH. 

LETTER  TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  ON  BOARD   STEAMER 
VANDERBILT,  NEW  YORK  HARBOR,  MAY  22,  1858. 


To  THE  PEOPLE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  :  — 

TWO  years  have  now  passed,  since,  when  in  the  en- 
joyment of  perfect  health,  I  was  suddenly  made 
an  invalid.  Throughout  this  protracted  period,  amidst 
various  vicissitudes  of  convalescence,  I  seemed  to  be 
slowly  regaining  the  health  that  had  been  taken  from 
me,  until  I  was  encouraged  to  believe  myself  on  the 
verge  of  perfect  recovery. 

But  injuries  so  grave  as  those  originally  received  are 
not  readily  repaired ;  and  a  recent  relapse  painfully  ad- 
monishes me,  that,  although  enjoying  many  of  the  con- 
ditions of  prosperous  convalescence,  I  am  not  yet  be- 
yond the  necessity  of  caution.  This  has  been  confirmed 
by  the  physicians  in  Boston  and  Philadelphia  most  fa- 
miliar with  my  case,  who,  in  concurrence  with  coun- 
sels previously  given  by  medical  authorities  in  Europe, 
have  enjoined  travel  as  best  calculated  to  promote  res- 
toration. Anxious  to  spare  no  effort  for  this  end,  so 
long  deferred,  I  to-day  sail  for  France. 

To  the  generous  people  of  Massachusetts,  who  have 
honored  me  with  an  important  trust,  and  cheered  me 
by  so  much  sympathy,  I  wish  to  express  the  thanks 


LETTER   TO   THE  PEOPLE   OF   MASSACHUSETTS.         63 

which  now  palpitate  in  my  bosom,  while  I  say  to  them 
all  collectively,  as  I  would  say  to  a  friend,  Farewell ! 

These  valedictory  words  would  be  imperfect,  if  I  did 
not  seize  this  occasion  to  declare,  what  I  have  often 
said  less  publicly,  that,  had  I  foreseen  originally  the 
duration  of  my  disability,  I  should  at  once  have  re- 
signed my  seat  in  the  Senate,  making  way  for  a  servant 
more  fortunate  in  the  precious  advantages  of  health. 
I  did  not  do  so,  because,  like  other  invalids,  I  lived  in 
the  belief  that  I  was  soon  to  be  well,  and  was  reluctant 
to  renounce  the  opportunity  of  again  exposing  the 
hideous  Barbarism  of  Slavery,  now  more  than  ever 
transfused  into  the  National  Government,  infecting  its 
whole  policy  and  degrading  its  whole  character.  Be- 
sides, I  was  often  assured,  and  encouraged  to  feel,  that 
to  every  sincere  lover  of  civilization  my  vacant  chair 
was  a  perpetual  speech. 

CHARLES  SUMNEE. 

ON  BOARD  STEAMER  VANDERBILT, 
NEW  YORK  HARBOR,  May  22,  1858. 


HONOR  TO  THE  INVENTOR  OF  THE  ELECTRIC 
TELEGRAPH. 

LETTER  TO  PROFESSOR  MORSE,  IN  EXCUSING  HIMSELF  FROM  A  DINNER 
AT  PARIS,  AUGUST  17,  1858. 


HOTEL  AND  RUE  DE  LA  PAIX,  PARIS, 
Tuesday,  August  17,  1858. 

MY  DEAK  SIR,  —  I  have  fresh  occasion  to  be  un- 
happy that  I  am  still  an  invalid,  because  it  pre- 
vents me  from  joining  in  the  well-deserved  honors 
which  our  countrymen  here  are  about  to  offer  you. 

As  I  would  not  be  thought  indifferent  to  the  oc- 
casion, I  seize  the  moment  to  express  in  this  informal 
manner  my  humble  gratitude  for  the  great  discovery 
with  which  your  name  will  be  forever  associated. 
Through  you  Civilization  has  made  one  of  her  surest 
and  grandest  triumphs,  beyond  any  ever  won  on  a  field 
of  battle ;  nor  do  I  go  beyond  the  line  of  most  cautious 
truth,  when  I  add,  that,  if  mankind  had  yet  arrived  at 
a  just  appreciation  of  its  benefactors,  it  would  welcome 
such  a  conqueror  with  more  than  a  marshal's  baton. 

I  write  to  you  frankly,  and  with  a  still  cordial  mem- 
ory of  that  distant  day,  when,  in  the  company  of  a 
friend  who  is  no  longer  on  earth,  I  first  had  the  happi- 
ness of  taking  you  by  the  hand. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir,  with  much  regard, 
Ever  sincerely  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

PROFESSOR  MORSE. 


LONGING  FOR  DUTIES  OF  POSITION. 

FROM  A  LETTER  TO  A  FRIEND,  DATED  AT  Aix,  SAVOY, 
SEPTEMBER  11,  1858. 


THIS  extract  is  taken  from  the  public  papers  of  the  time. 

Aix,  SAVOY,  September  11,  1858. 

LOOK  at  the  map  of  Europe,  and  you  will  find, 
nestling  in  the  mountains  of  Savoy,  between 
Switzerland  and  France,  the  little  village  of  Aix,  gen- 
erally known  as  Aix-les-Bains,  from  the  baths  which 
give  it  fame.  There  I  am  now.  The  country  about 
is  most  beautiful,  the  people  simple  and  kind. 

My  life  is  devoted  to  health.  I  wish  that  I  could 
say  that  I  am  not  still  an  invalid;  yet,  except  when 
attacked  by  the  pain  on  my  chest,  I  am  now  com- 
fortable, and  enjoy  my  baths,  my  walks,  and  the  repose 
and  incognito  which  I  find  here. 

I  begin  the  day  with  douches,  hot  and  cold,  —  and 
when  thoroughly  exhausted,  am  wrapped  in  sheet  and 
blanket,  and  conveyed  to  my  hotel,  and  laid  on  my 
bed.  After  my  walk,  I  find  myself  obliged  again  to 
take  to  my  bed  for  two  hours  before  dinner.  But  this 
whole  treatment  is  in  pleasant  contrast  with  the  pro- 
tracted suffering  from  fire  which  made  the  summer  a 
torment.  And  yet  I  fear  that  I  must  return  to  that 
treatment. 

VOL.  vi.  —  6 


66  LONGING  FOR  DUTIES   OF  POSITION. 

It  is  with  a  pang  unspeakable  that  I  find  myself 
thus'  arrested  in  the  labors  of  life  and  in  the  duties 
of  my  position.  This  is  harder  to  bear  than  the 
fire.  I  do  not  hear  of  friends  engaged  in  active  ser- 
vice —  like  Trumbull  in  Illinois  —  without  a  feeling 

O 

of  envy. 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 


INDEPENDENCE  AND  UNITY  OF  ITALY. 

LETTER  TO  A  PUBLIC  MEETING  AT  NEW  YORK, 
FEBRUARY  17,  1860. 


THIS  meeting  was  at  the  City  Assembly  Rooms,  and  was  addressed 
by  Rev.  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  Hon.  Charles  King,  Rev.  H.  W.  Bel- 
lows, Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Hon.  Joseph  Hoxie,  and  Professor 
O.  M.  Mitchel.  According  to  the  New  York  Tribune,  the  letter 
of  Mr.  Sumner  "was  received  with  much  enthusiasm." 

SENATE  CHAMBER,  February  16,  1860. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  You  do  me  no  more  than  justice, 
when  you  suppose  that  my  sympathies  are  with 
Italy  in  her  present  noble  struggle.  If  I  do  not  attend 
the  meeting  at  New  York,  according  to  the  invitation 
with  which  I  am  honored,  it  is  because  other  duties 
here  keep  me  away. 

To  the  cause  of  Human  Freedom  everywhere  I  am 
bound  by  all  ties,  whether  of  feeling  or  principle.  To 
Italy  also  —  venerable,  yet  ever  young,  with  that  fatal 
gift  of  beauty  which  from  all  time  she  has  worn  —  I 
confess  a  sentiment  of  love  and  reverence ;  I  am  sorrow- 
ful in  her  sorrow,  and  happy  in  her  happiness. 

Surely,  by  her  past  history,  and  all  that  she  has 
done  for  human  improvement,  we  are  her  debtors. 
Without  Italian  genius  what  now  were  modern  civiliza- 
tion ?  There  is  no  art,  or  science,  or  activity,  or  grace,  in 
which  she  has  not  excelled  or  led  the  way.  If  I  went 


68  INDEPENDENCE  AND   UNITY  OF  ITALY. 

into  detail,  I  must  mention  not  only  sculpture,  painting, 
engraving,  and  music,  but  also  astronomy,  navigation, 
bookkeeping,  and  jurisprudence ;  and  I  must  present  an 
array  of  great  names,  such  as  no  other  country  can 
boast.  And  to  all  these  I  must  add  the  practical  dis- 
coveries of  the  mariner's  compass,  the  barometer,  the 
telescope  applied  to  astronomy,  and  the  pendulum  as  a 
measure  of  time. 

To  the  political  skeptics  and  infidels  who  affect  to 
doubt  the  capacity  for  freedom  of  this  illustrious  people 
I  would  say,  that  Italy,  in  modern  times,  was  the  earli- 
est home  of  political  science,  and  the  earliest  author  of 
some  of  those  political  truths  which  have  since  passed 
into  principles.  Besides,  divided  into  separate,  sovereign 
States,  with  separate  systems  of  legislation,  her  condi- 
tion is  coincident  with  our  own,  to  the  extent  of  possess- 
ing those  local  facilities  for  self-government  which  are 
our  boast.  And  then  there  is  the  spirit  of  her  sons,  as 
shown  in  recent  efforts,  giving  assurance  of  courage,  and 
of  that  rarer  wisdom  which  knows  how  to  guide  and 
temper  courage,  both  of  which  shone  so  conspicuous  in 
the  Venetian  Manin,  worthy  compeer  of  our  own  Wash- 
ington. 

Allow  me  to  add,  that  I  confidently  look  to  the  day 
when  we  may  welcome  into  the  fellowship  of  nations  a 
community  new  in  external  form,  but  old  in  constituent 
parts,  —  separate  in  local  governments,  but  bound  in 
perfect  union,  with  one  national  flag,  one  national  coin, 
and  one  national  principle,  giving  to  all  the  strength 
of  unity,  —  E  Pluribiw  Unum,  —  and  constituting  the 
United  States  of  Italy.  And  may  God  speed  this  good 
timel 


INDEPENDENCE  AND   UNITY   OF  ITALY.  69 

Accept  the  assurance  of  the  respect  with  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  be,  Gentlemen, 

Faithfully  yours, 

CHAELES  SUMNEB. 


TWO  LESSONS  FROM  THE  LIFE  OF  WASHINGTON. 

LETTER  TO  THE  WASHINGTON  MONUMENT  ASSOCIATION  OF  THE  FIRST 
SCHOOL  DISTRICT  OF  PHILADELPHIA,  FEBRUARY  21,  1860. 


SENATE  CHAMBER,  February  21,  1860. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  It  would  be  a  pleasure  to  be  with 
you  at  your  celebration  of  the  Birthday  of  Wash- 
ington, according  to  the  invitation  with  which  you  have 
honored  me.  But  other  duties  will  keep  me  away. 

It  is  always  a  delight  to  listen  to  the  praise  of  Wash- 
ington, particularly  when  his  full  life  is  set  forth,  and 
he  is  shown  hi  his  real  character,  ever  wise,  firm,  and 
true,  teaching  two  commanding  lessons :  first,  by  the 
achievements  and  trials  of  a  seven  years'  war,  that  his 
fellow-countrymen  should  not  be  willing  to  be  slaves ; 
and,  secondly,  by  the  repeated  declarations  of  his  life, 
and  especially  by  his  great  example  in  his  last  will 
and  testament,  that  his  fellow-countrymen  should  not 
be  willing  to  be  slave-masters.  I  do  not  know  for 
which  he  is  to  be  most  honored. 

Accept  my  thanks  for  the  personal  kindness  of  your 
letter,  and  believe  me,  dear  Sir, 

Faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 
GEORGE  F.  GORDON,  Esq. 


MACAULAY  ON  SLAVERY. 

COMMUNICATION  TO  THE  NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE,  MARCH  3,  1860. 


THE  same  paper  contained  the  article  of  Macaulay  entitled  "The 
West  Indies,"  from  the  Edinburgh  Review,  January,  1825,  Vol.  XLI. 
pp.  464-488.  The  day  after  its  appearance,  the  New  York  Herald,  in 
a  leader  with  the  caption,  "  Macaulay,  Sumner,  and  Slavery,"  sought 
to  disparage  the  testimony,  saying,  among  other  things  :  — 

"  What  Mr.  Stunner  now  introduces  is  a  proof  how  badly  off  the  party 
must  be  for  weapons,  when  they  rake  them  up  from  the  dead  magazines  of 
another  generation,  and  written  by  a  youth  a  little  over  twenty  years  of  age ; 
or  Mr.  Sumner  has  not  yet  recovered  his  usual  strength  of  mind,  since  the 
injury  he  received  a  few  years  ago  at  the  Capitol.  And  what  does  his 
article  amount  to  ?  That  the  British  planters  in  the  West  Indies  treated 
their  slaves  very  badly,  which  may  or  may  not  be  true.  But  from  the  abuse 
of  the  institution  in  one  place  he  argues  against  the  policy  of  its  continued 
existence  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  He  might  as  well  conclude,  that, 
because  many  of  the  English  are  cruel  to  their  horses,  and  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  pass  an  Act  of  Parliament  for  their  protection,  therefore  horses  ought 
to  be  emancipated  in  the  United  States,  and  let  loose  through  the  country. 
An  argument  from  the  abuse  to  the  disuse  of  anything  is  the  poorest  kind  of 
logic." 

Such  was  the  tone  of  discussion  on  the  eve  of  the  Presidential  elec- 
tion destined  to  decide  the  fate  of  American  Slavery. 


To  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  TRIBITNE  :  — 

SIR,  —  I  ask  attention  to  an  eloquent  and  charac- 
teristic article  on  Slavery,  by  Macaulay,  never  yet 
printed  in  our  country  with  his  name.  It  is  in  an  old 
number  of  the  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  while  Jeffrey  was 
its  editor,  and  in  point  of  time  preceded  the  famous  ar- 
ticle on  Milton.  It  is,  indeed,  the  earliest  contribution 


72  MACAULAY  ON   SLAVERY. 

of  the  illustrious  writer  to  that  Review,  of  which  he 
became  a  chief  support  and  ornament.  As  such,  it  be- 
longs to  the  curiosities  of  literature,  even  if  it  did  not 
possess  intrinsic  interest  from  subject  and  style. 

Here  are  seen,  no  longer  in  germ,  but  almost  in  perfect 
development,  those  same  great  elements  of  style  which 
appear  in  the  maturer  essays  and  the  History,  —  mas- 
tery of  language,  clearness  of  statement,  force,  splendor 
of  illustration,  an  irrepressible  sequence  of  thought  and 
argument,  and  that  same  whip  of  scorpions  which  he 
afterward  flourished  over  Barere:  all  these  are  con- 
spicuous in  this  first  effort,  where  he  utters  the  honest, 
gushing  indignation  of  his  soul.  Never  has  Slavery- 
inspired  speaker  or  writer  to  more  complete  and  scorn- 
ful condemnation. 

The  article  was  called  forth  by  British  Slavery  in  the 
West  Indies ;  but  it  is  just  as  applicable  to  American 
Slavery.  Mutato  nomine,  de  tefdbula  narratur.  Every 
line  bears  upon  the  slave-drivers  of  our  country,  with 
greater  force  even  than  upon  the  slave-drivers  of  the 
West  Indies ;  for  audacity  here  goes  further  than  it 
was  ever  pushed  in  the  British  dominions.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  find  how  exact  the  parallel  becomes.  In  the 
picture  of  illiberal  men  conspiring  to  support  Slavery 
Macaulay  seems  to  delineate  us. 

"  The  slave-drivers  may  boast,  that,  if  our  cause  has  re- 
ceived support  from  honest  men  of  all  religious  and  political 
parties,  theirs  has  tended  in  as  great  a  degree  to  combine 
and  conciliate  every  form  of  violence  and  illiberality.  Tories 
and  Radicals,  prebendaries  and  field-preachers,  are  to  be 
found  in  their  ranks.  The  only  requisites  for  one  who 
aspires  to  enlist  are  a  front  of  brass  and  a  tongue  of 
venom." l 

i  Edinburgh  Review,  Vol.  XLI.  p.  466. 


MACAULAY  ON  SLAVEBY.  73 

Aiming  to  exhibit  Slavery  in  its  laws,  without  dwell- 
ing on  the  accumulated  instances  of  cruelty,  he  puts  the 
case  on  the  strongest  ground ;  and  here  his  unimpeach- 
able witness  is  the  statute-book  itself.  But  this  same 
argument  bears  with  equal  force  upon  our  Slavery ;  so 
that,  in  reading  his  indignant  exposure  of  the  West 
India  jurisprudence,  we  see  rising  before  us  the  kin- 
dred enormities  of  our  own  Slave  States,  and  acknowl- 
edge the  truth  of  his  generous  words. 

He  seems  also  to  have  anticipated  that  flagrant  soph- 
ism, which,  under  the  guise  of  Popular  Sovereignty,  in- 
sists that  men  shall  be  at  liberty  —  "  perfectly  free  "  is 
the  phrase  of  the  Nebraska  Bill  —  to  buy  and  sell  fellow- 
men. 

"  If  you  will  adopt  the  principles  of  Liberty,  adopt  them 
altogether.  Every  argument  which  you  can  urge  in  support 
of  your  own  claims  might  be  employed,  with  far  greater 
justice,  in  favor  of  the  emancipation  of  your  bondsmen. 
When  that  event  shall  have  taken  place,  your  demand  will 
deserve  consideration.  At  present,  what  you  require  under 
the  name  of  Freedom  is  nothing  but  unlimited  power  to 
oppress.  It  is  the  freedom  of  Nero."  x 

The  threats  of  disunion,  coming  from  slave-drivers, 
are  also  foreshown,  and  treated  with  the  scorn  they 
merit. 

"  Who  can  refrain  from  thinking  of  Captain  Lemuel  Gul- 
liver, who,  while  raised  sixty  feet  from  the  ground  on  the 
hand  of  the  King  of  Brobdignag,  claps  his  hand  on  his  sword 
and  tells  his  Majesty  that  he  knows  how  to  defend  himself  ? 
You  will  rebel !  .  .  .  .  But  this  is  mere  trifling.  Are  you,  in 
point  of  fact,  at  this  moment  able  to  protect  yourselves 
against  your  slaves  without  our  assistance?  If  you  can 

l  Edinburgh  Review,  Vol.  XLI.  p.  481. 


74  MACAULAY   ON  SLAVERY. 

still  rise  up  and  lie  down  in  security,  —  if  you  can  still  eat 
the  bread  of  the  fatherless  and  grind  the  faces  of  the  poor, 

if  you  can   still  hold  your  petty  Parliaments,  and  say 

your  little  speeches,  and  move  your  little  motions,  —  if  you 
can  still  outrage  and  insult  the  Parliament  and  people  of 
England,  —  to  what  do  you  owe  it  1 " : 

The  sensitiveness  of  slave  property  —  the  same  in 
our  Slave  States  as  in  the  British  West  Indies  —  is 
aptly  described  in  the  remark,  that  a  pamphlet  of  Mr. 
Stephen  or  a  speech  of  Mr.  Brougham  is  sufficient  to 
excite  all  the  slaves  in  the  colonies  to  rebel.  And  it  is 
shown  that  in  a  servile  war  the  master  must  be  loser ; 
for  his  enemies  are  his  chattels.  Whether  the  slave 
conquer  or  fall,  he  is  alike  lost  to  the  owner.  In  the 
mean  time,  the  soil  lies  uncultivated,  the  machinery  is 
destroyed.  And  when  the  possessions  of  the  planter 
are  restored  to  him,  they  have  been  changed  into  a 
desert.2 

Here  also  is  an  exhibition  of  the  incompatibility 
between  Slavery  and  Christianity,  which  ought  to  be 
read  in  every  Southern  pulpit :  — 

"The  immorality  and  irreligion  of  the  slaves  are  the 
necessary  consequences  of  their  political  and  personal  deg- 
radation. They  are  not  considered  by  the  law  as  human 
beings.  ....  They  must  become  men  before  they  can  become 

Christians Can   a   preacher   prevail  on  his  hearers 

strictly  to  fulfil  their  conjugal  duties  in  a  country  where  no 
protection  is  given  to  their  conjugal  rights,  —  in  a  country 
where  the  husband  and  wife  may,  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
master  or  by  process  of  law,  be  in  an  instant  separated 
forever  ?  .  .  .  .  The  great  body  of  the  colonists  have  reso- 

l  Edinburgh  Review,  Vol.  XLI.  p.  481. 
«  Ibid.,  pp.  486,  487. 


MACAULAY  ON  SLAVERY.  75 

lutely  opposed  religious  instruction;  and  they  are  in  the 
right.  They  know,  though  their  misinformed  friends  in  Eng- 
land do  not  know,  that  Christianity  and  Slavery  cannot  long 
exist  together."1 

Such  is  the  philippic  against  Slavery  by  the  first 
writer  of  the  English  language  in  our  day,  and  one  of 
the  first  in  all  times.  As  testimony  to  a  sacred  cause, 
it  is  priceless;  as  a  contribution  to  literature,  it  can- 
not be  forgotten.  Why  it  was  suppressed  by  American 
publishers,  who  gave  us  the  earliest  collection  of  Mac- 
aulay's  Essays  ever  printed  in  England  or  America,  I 
know  not.  Unhappily,  this  suppression  was  too  much 
in  harmony  with  the  received  American  system  from 
that  day  to  this,  whether  in  publishing  Humboldt's 
work  on  Cuba,  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  work  on  the 
American  Church,  or  the  engraving  of  Ary  Scheffer's 
"Christus  Consolator,"  from  all  of  which  the  slave  is 
shut  out.  That  this  blame  may  not  fall  upon  the  au- 
thor himself,  it  is  important  to  know  that  the  Ameri- 
can collection  was  made  without  any  list  supplied  by 
him.  In  the  modesty  of  his  nature,  he  regarded  his 
contributions  to  Eeviews  as  fugitive  pieces,  which  he 
abandoned  to  the  world,  without  caring  to  gather  them 
together.  It  will  be  for  posterity  to  rejudge  this  judg- 
ment. 

In  this  statement,  I  rely  upon  personal  recollection 
of  conversations  with  him.  More  than  twenty  years 
ago  —  as  also  more  recently  —  I  was  in  the  habit  of 
meeting  the  great  writer  in  the  society  of  London ;  and 
I  remember  well  how,  on  one  of  these  occasions,  when 
told  that  an  American  bookseller  proposed  to  publish 
a  collection  of  his  articles,  he  very  positively  protested 

1  Edinburgh  Review,  Vol.  XLI.  p.  472. 


76  MACAULAY   ON   SLAVERY. 

against  it,  and  refused  to  furnish  a  tyst.  Nor  is  it  out 
of  place  to  add  here,  that,  while  his  wonderful  conversa- 
tion left  on  the  mind  an  ineffaceable  impression  of  elo- 
quence and  fulness,  perhaps  without  parallel,  it  also 
showed  a  character  of  singular  integrity. 

This  article  is  not  alone  in  attesting  his  sympathy 
with  the  Antislavery  cause.  The  first  public  appear- 
ance of  Macaulay,  while  yet  a  very  young  man,  was  at 
an  Antislavery  meeting ;  and  one  of  his  most  stinging 
speeches,  at  the  maturity  of  his  powers,  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  bore  testimony  to  the  depth  and  constancy 
of  this  sentiment.1  This  was  natural;  for  he  was  son 
of  Zachary  Macaulay,  one  of  the  devoted  Abolitionists 
who  helped  to  carry,  first,  the  abolition  of  the  slave- 
trade,  and  then,  at  a  later  day,  the  abolition  of  Slavery 
itself,  ih  the  British  dominions. 

The  sendees  of  the  father,  as  friend  of  the  slave,  have 
been  aptly  commemorated  by  a  cenotaph  in  Westmin- 
ster Abbey,  situated  in  the  nave,  on  the  left  side  of  the 
great  door  as  you  enter,  and  close  to  the  imposing 
monument  of  Fox.  The  son  now  lies  in  the  same  his- 
toric burial-place  and  beneath  the  same  mighty  roof,2 
but  in  Poets'  Corner,  distant  by  more  than  the  whole 
length  of  the  nave  from  the  tablet  erected  in  honor  of 
his  father.  In  all  that  multitude  of  monuments  to  the 
illustrious  dead,  if  we  except  the  line  of  kings,  there  is 
but  one  other  instance  of  father  and  son  enshrined  in 
the  Abbey,  and  that  is  Lord  Chatham  and  William 
Pitt,  whose  monuments  are  also  distant  from  each 
other  by  more  than  the  whole  length  of  the  nave. 

1  Speech  on  the  Sugar  Duties,  February  26,  1846:  Speeches,  Vol.   II. 
pp.  126,  127. 
a  Born  October  25, 1800;  died  December  28, 1869. 


MACAULAY  ON  SLAVERY.  77 

Such  is  the  conspicuous  fellowship  of  the  two  Pitts 
and  the  Macaulays,  father  and  son,  although  most  un- 
like in  circumstances  of  life  and  the  services  which 
have  secured  this  common  foothold  of  immortality.  In 
each  case,  the  father,  even  with  the  fame  of  Lord  Chat- 
ham, has  new  glory  from  the  son.  The  resting-places 
of  the  two  Pitts  are  known  at  once  on  entering  the 
Abbey.  Hereafter,  the  stranger,  who  has  stood  with 
grateful  admiration  before  the  grave  of  the  younger 
Macaulay,  will  seek  with  reverent  step  the  simple 
tribute  to  his  father,  the  Abolitionist,  —  mindful  that 
the  love  of  Human  Freedom  in  which  the  son  was 
cradled  and  schooled  gave  to  his  character  some  of  its 
best  features,  and  to  his  career  of  authorship  its  earliest 
triumph. 

My  purpose  is  simply  to  introduce  this  new-found 
testimony  against  Slavery,  and  not  to  dwell  on  the  life 
or  character  of  the  author.  If  I  followed  a  hint  from 
him,  the  way  would  be  open.  Nobody  can  forget  that 
in  one  of  his  most  magnificent  essays  he  has  availed 
himself  of  the  interest,  transient  it  may  have  been, 
created  by  a  newly  discovered  prose  work  of  Milton, 
and  has  reminded  his  readers  that  the  dexterous  Capu- 
chins never  choose  to  preach  on  the  life  and  miracles  of 
a  Saint  till  they  have  awakened  the  devotional  feelings 
of  their  auditors  by  exhibiting  some  relic  of  him, — 
.  a  thread  of  his  garment,  a  lock  of  his  hair,  or  a  drop  of 
his  blood.  Here,  indeed,  is  a  relic  of  Macaulay ;  but  I 
venture  no  further. 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 


STATUE  OF  HORACE  MANN. 

LETTER  TO  DR.  SAMUEL  G.  HOWE,  MARCH  5,  1860. 


FROM  the  public  papers  of  the  time. 

SENATE  CHAMBER,  March  5,  1860. 

MY  DEAK  HOWE,  —  I  am  glad  to  know  that  you 
are  moving  in   earnest  for  a  public   statue   to 
Horace  Mann. 

Absence,  and  not  indifference,  is  my  excuse  for  not 
associating  myself  at  first  with  this  purpose.  Though 
tardily,  I  do  it  now  most  sincerely,  and  with  my 
whole  heart.  I  send  you  for  it  one  hundred  dollars ; 
but  you  will  please  not  to  measure  my  interest  in 
this  tribute  to  a  public  benefactor  by  the  sum  which 
I  contribute.  Were  I  able,  it  would  be  ten  times 
as  large.  If  each  person  in  Massachusetts  who  has 
been  benefited  by  the  vast  and  generous  labors  of 
Horace  Mann,  —  each  person  who  hates  Intemper- 
ance, and  who  hates  Slavery,  —  each  person  who  loves 
Education,  and  who  loves  humane  efforts  for  the  pris- 
oner, the  poor,  and  the  insane,  —  should  contribute 
a  mite  only,  then  his  statue  would  be  of  gold.  Why 
not  at  once  appeal  to  good  men,  and  insist  upon 
organization  throughout  the  Commonwealth,  reach- 
ing into  every  School  District,  so  that  all  may  have 
an  opportunity  to  contribute  ?  Pray  do  this,  and  if 


STATUE  OF  HORACE  MANN.  79 

I  can  serve  you  any  way  about  it,  command  me,  and 
believe  me, 

Always  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

P.  S.  —  Mr.  Seward,  who  is  not  a  Massachusetts  man, 
asks  me  to  put  his  name  down  for  fifty  dollars.  I  en- 
close his  subscription. 


USURPATION  OF  THE  SENATE  IN  IMPRISONING 
A  CITIZEN. 

Two  SPEECHES,  ON  THE  IMPRISONMENT  OF  THADDEUS  HYATT  FOR 
REFUSING  TO  TESTIFY  IN  THE  HARPER'S  FERRY  INVESTIGATION,  IN 
THE  SENATE,  MARCH  12  AND  JUNE  15,  1860. 


ON  his  return  to  the  Senate,  at  the  opening  of  Congress,  December 
5,  1859,  Mr.  Sumner  encountered  the  agitation  arising  from  the  fa- 
mous attempt  of  John  Brown  at  Harper's  Ferry.  Though  warned 
to  enter  slowly  into  the  full  responsibilities  of  his  position,  he  was 
constantly  moved  by  incidents  arising  from  this  agitation. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  session,  Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  moved  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  "to  inquire  into  the  facts  attending  the 
late  invasion  and  seizure  of  the  armory  and  arsenal  of  the  United 
States  at  Harper's  Ferry,  in  Virginia,  by  a  band  of  armed  men,"  and 
the  long  resolution  concluded  with  "power  to  send  for  persons  and 
papers."  The  Committee  was  appointed,  with  Mr.  Mason  as  chair- 
man, and,  in  the  course  of  its  duties,  summoned  John  Brown,  Jr.,  of 
Kansas,  and  F.  B.  Sanborn  and  James  Redpath,  of  Massachusetts,  who 
severally  failed  to  appear.  Thaddeus  Hyatt,  of  New  York,  appeared, 
but  refused  to  testify.  Thereupon  Mr.  Mason  reported  from  his  com- 
mittee the  following  resolution. 

"  Whereas  Thaddeus  Hyatt,  appearing  at  the  bar  of  the  Senate,  in  custody 
of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  pursuant  to  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  6th 
of  March,  instant,  was  required,  by  order  oT  the  Senate  then  made,  to 
answer  the  following  questions,  under  oath  and  in  writing  :  '  1st,  What 
excuse  have  you  for  not  appearing  before  the  select  committee  of  the 
Senate,  in  pursuance  of  the  summons  served  on  you  on  the  24th  day  of 
January,  1860?  2d,  Are  you  now  ready  to  appear  before  said  committee, 
and  answer  such  proper  questions  as  shall  be  put  to  you  by  said  com- 
mittee ?  '  —  time  to  answer  the  same  being  given  until  the  9th  day  of  March 
following:  And  whereas,  on  the  said  last-named  day,  the  said  Thaddeus 
Hyatt,  again  appearing,  in  like  custody,  at  the  bar  of  the  Senate,  presented 


IMPRISONING  A  CITIZEN.  81 

a  paper,  accompanied  by  an  affidavit,  which  he  stated  was  his  answer  to 
said  questions ;  and  it  appearing,  upon  examination  thereof,  that  said  Thad- 
deus  Hyatt  has  assigned  no  sufficient  excuse  in  answer  to  the  question 
first  aforesaid,  and  in  answer  to  said  second  question  has  not  declared  him- 
self ready  to  appear  and  answer  before  said  committee  of  the  Senate,  as  set 
forth  in  said  question,  and  has  not  purged  himself  of  the  contempt  with 
which  he  stands  charged:  Therefore, 

"  Be  it  resolved,  That  the  said  Thaddeus  Hyatt  be  committed  by  the 
Sergeant-at-Arms  to  the  common  jail  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  to  be  kept 
in  close  custody  until  he  shall  signify  his  willingness  to  answer  the  ques- 
tions propounded  to  him  by  the  Senate ;  and  for  the  commitment  and  de- 
tention of  the  said  Thaddens  Hyatt  this  resolution  shall  be  a  sufficient 
warrant. 

"  Resolved,  That,  whenever  the  officer  having  the  said  Thaddeus  Hyatt  in 
custody  shall  be  informed  by  said  Hyatt  that  he  is  ready  and  willing  to  an- 
swer the  questions  aforesaid,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  such  officer  to  deliver 
the  said  Thaddeus  Hyatt  over  to  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the  Senate,  whose 
duty  it  shall  be  again  to  bring  him  before  the  bar  of  the  Senate,  when  so 
directed  by  the  Senate." 

On  the  question  upon  its  passage,  March  12,  1860,  Mr.  Stunner 
spoke  as  follows. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  —  It  is  related  in  English  parlia- 
mentary history,  that,  on  a  certain  occasion,  when 
the  House  of  Commons  was  about  ordering  the  commit- 
ment of  a  somewhat  too  famous  witness  to  the  custody 
of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  the  Speaker  interfered  by  vol- 
unteering to  say,  that  "the  House  ought  to  pause  be- 
fore they  came  to  a  decision  upon  a  point  in  which  the 
liberty  of  the  subject  was  so  materially  concerned."1 
That  same  question  is  now  before  us.  We  are  to  pass 
on  the  liberty  of  a  citizen. 

Pardon  me,  if  I  say  that  such  a  question  cannot  at 
any  time  be  trivial  But  it  has  an  unaccustomed 
magnitude  on  this  occasion,  because  the  case  is  novel 
in  this  body ;  so  that  what  you  now  do,  besides  involv- 
ing the  liberty  of  the  gentleman  at  the  bar,  will  estab- 

1  Case  of  the  witness  Mrs.  Clarke,  in  the  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of  the 
Duke  of  York,  February  7, 1809 :  Hansard,  Parliamentary  Debates,  Vol.  XIL 
col.  436. 

VOL.  vi.  — 6 


82  USURPATION   OF  THE  SENATE 

lish  a  precedent,  which,  in  itself,  will  be  a  law  for  other 
cases  hereafter. 

Now,  if  it  be  conceded  that  the  Senate  is  invested 
with  all  the  large  powers  claimed  by  the  Houses  of 
Parliament,  then  I  cannot  doubt  its  power  in  the  pres- 
ent case,  although  I  might  well  question  the  expedi- 
ency of  exercising  it.  But  this  is  notoriously  untrue. 
It  is  well  known  that  Parliament  is  above  the  con- 
straint of  a  written  Constitution ;  and  it  has  been  more 
than  once  declared  —  much  to  the  indignation  of  our 
Revolutionary  fathers  —  that  it  is  "omnipotent"  to 
such  extent  that  it  can  do  anything  it  pleases,  except 
make  a  man  of  a  woman,  or  a  woman  of  a  man.  The 
Senate  has  no  such  large  powers ;  it  is  not  "  omnipo- 
tent," but  under  the  constraint  of  a  written  Constitu- 
tion. Instead  of  authority  in  all  possible  cases,  it  has 
authority  only  in  certain  specific  cases. 

If  the  Senate  can  summon  witnesses  to  its  bar,  and 
compel  them  to  testify,  under  pains  and  penalties,  it 
must  be  by  virtue  of  powers  delegated  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, —  I  do  not  say  by  express  grant,  but  at  least  by 
positive  intendment.  I  say  positive  intendment ;  for 
nothing  is  to  be  presumed  against  liberty. 

There  are  certain  cases  in  which  the  power  is  clear : 
first,  and  most  conspicuously,  in  the  trial  of  impeach- 
ments ;  secondly,  in  determining  the  elections,  returns, 
and  qualifications  of  its  members ;  and,  thirdly,  in  pun- 
ishing its  members  for  disorderly  behavior.  All  these 
proceedings  are  judicial,  as  well  as  political,  in  char- 
acter, and  carry  with  them,  as  a  natural  incident,  the 
power  to  compel  witnesses  to  testify. 

Beyond  these  three  cases,  which  stand  on  the  express 
words  of  the  Constitution,  there  are  two  other  cases, 


IN  IMPRISONING  A  CITIZEN.  83 

t 

quasi-judicial  in  character,  which,  though  not  supported 
by  express  words  of  the  Constitution,  have  grown  out 
of  necessity  and  reason,  amounting  to  positive  intend- 
ment.  and  are  sanctioned  by  precedents.  I  refer,  first, 
to  the  inquiry  into  an  alleged  violation  of  the  privi- 
leges of  this  body,  as  where  a  copy  of  a  treaty  was 
furtively  obtained  and  published ;  and,  secondly,  to  the 
inquiry  into  conduct  of  servants  of  the  Senate,  like 
that  now  proceeding  with  regard  to  the  Printer,  on  the 
motion  of  the  Senator  from  New  York  [  Mr.  KING].  If 
I  were  asked  to  indicate  the  principle  on  which  these 
two  cases  stood,  I  should  say  it  was  that  just  and 
universal  right  of  self-defence  inherent  in  every  parlia- 
mentary body,  as  in  every  court,  and  also  in  every 
individual,  but  which  is  limited  closely  by  the  simple 
necessities  of  the  case. 

Such  are  the  five  cases  in  which  this  extraordinary 
power  has  been  heretofore  exercised :  the  first  three 
standing  on  the  text  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  other 
two  on  the  right  of  self-defence  necessarily  inherent  in 
the  Senate;  all  five  sanctioned  by  precedents  of  this 
body ;  all  five  judicial  in  character ;  all  five  judicial 
also  in  purpose  and  intent ;  and  all  five  agreeing  in  this 
final  particular,  that  they  have  no  legislative  purpose  or 
intent.  Beyond  these  cases  there  is  no  precedent  for 
the  exercise  by  the  Senate  of  the  power  in  question. 

It  is  now  proposed  to  add  a  new  case,  most  clearly 
without  any  support  in  the  Constitution,  without  any 
support  in  the  right  of  self-defence  inherent  in  the 
Senate,  and  without  any  support  in  the  precedents  of 
the  Senate. 

A  committee  has  been  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  facts  attending  the  late  invasion  and  seizure  of  the 


84  USUKPATION  OF  THE  SENATE 

armory  and  arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry  by  a  band  of 
armed  men,  and  report  whether  the  same  was  attended 
by  armed  resistance  to  the  authorities  and  public  force 
of  the  United  States,  and  by  the  murder  of  any  citizens 
of  Virginia,  or  of  any  troops  sent  there  to  protect  public 
property  ;  whether  such  invasion  was  made  under  color 
of  any  organization  intended  to  subvert  the  government 
of  any  of  the  States  of  the  Union ;  the  character  and 
extent  of  such  organization ;  whetJier  any  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  not  present,  were  implicated  therein  or  ac- 
cessory thereto,  by  contributions  of  money,  arms,  munitions, 
or  otherwise  ;  the  character  and  extent  of  the  military 
equipment  in  the  hands  or  under  the  control  of  such 
armed  band ;  where,  how,  and  when  the  same  was  ob- 
tained and  transported  to  the  place  invaded ;  also,  to 
report  what  legislation,  if  any,  is  necessary  by  the  Gov- 
ernment for  the  future  preservation  of  the  peace  of  the 
country  and  the  safety  of  public  property;  with  power 
to  send  for  persons  and  papers. 

And  this  committee,  after  several  weeks  of  session, 
now  invokes  the  power  of  the  Senate  to  compel  the 
witness  to  testify.  The  chairman  of  the  committee,  the 
Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  MASON],  who  calls  for  the 
imprisonment  of  an  American  citizen,  has  shown  no 
authority  for  such  an  exercise  of  power  in  the  Consti- 
tution, or  in  the  admitted  right  of  self-defence,  or  in  the 
precedents  of  the  Senate.  He  cannot  show  any  such 
authority.  It  does  not  exist. 

Surely,  where  the  Constitution,  and  reason,  and  prece- 
dent, all  three,  are  silent,  we  might  well  hesitate  to  ex- 
ercise a  power  so  transcendent.  But  I  shall  not  stop 
here.  I  go  further,  and  point  out  two  specific  defects 
in  the  resolution  of  the  Senate. 


IN  IMPRISONING  A  CITIZEN.  85 

First.  The  inquiry  which  it  institutes  is  clearly  judi- 
cial in  character,  —  without,  however,  any  judicial  pur- 
pose, or  looking  to  any  judicial  end.  The  committee 
is  essentially  a  Tribunal,  with  power  of  denunciation, 
but  without  power  of  punishment,  —  sitting  with  closed 
doors,  having  the  secrecy  of  the  Inquisition  or  the  Star 
Chamber,  or,  if  you  please,  the  Grand  Jury, — with  power 
to  investigate  facts  involving  the  guilt  of  absent  persons, 
abd  to  denounce  fellow-citizens  as  felons  and  traitors. 
If  such  a  power  is  lodged  anywhere  outside  of  judicial 
tribunals,  it  must  be  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 
as  the  Grand  Inquest  of  the  Nation,  with  its  power  to 
impeach  all  civil  officers,  from  the  President  down  ;  but 
it  cannot  be  in  the  Senate.  Let  me  cite  an  illustration. 
The  Constitution  of  Maryland  provides  expressly  that 
"the  House  of  Delegates  may  inquire,  on  the  oath  of 
witnesses,  into  all  complaints,  grievances,  and  offences, 
as  the  Grand  Inquest  of  the  State,  and  may  commit  any 
person  for  any  crime  to  the  public  jail,  there  to  remain 
until  discharged  by  due  course  of  law."  But  I  deny 
that  the  Senate  of  that  neighbor  State  can  erect  itself 
into  a  Grand  Inquest. 

If  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  have  power  to 
make  the  present  inquiry,  then,  on  any  occasion  of  al- 
leged crime,  of  whatever  nature,  whether  of  treason  or 
murder  or  riot,  it  may  rush  to  the  assistance  of  the 
grand  juries  of  the  District,  or,  still  further,  it  may 
rush  to  the  assistance  of  the  grand  juries  of  Virginia ; 
in  short,  it  will  be  an  inquest  of  commanding  char- 
acter, and  with  far-reaching,  all-pervading  process,  sup- 
plementary and  ancillary  to  the  local  inquest,  —  or, 
rather,  so  transcendent  in  powers,  that  by  its  side  the 
local  inquest  will  be  dwarfed  into  insignificance.  This 


86  USURPATION   OF  THE  SENATE 

cannot  be  proper  or  constitutional.  But  perhaps  I  am 
especially  sensitive  on  this  point;  for,  as  a  citizen  of 
Massachusetts,  I  cannot  forget  that  her  Bill  of  Eights, 
originally  the  work  of  John  Adams,  provides  expressly 
that  the  legislative  department  shall  never  exercise  ju- 
dicial powers,  and  the  judicial  department  shall  never 
exercise  legislative  powers,  — "  to  the  end,"  as  is  sol- 
emnly declared,  "  it  may  be  a  government  of  laws,  and 
not  of  men." 

But,  assuming  that  the  resolution  is  defective  so 
far  as  it  constitutes  an  inquest  into  crime,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  witness  should  be  compelled  to  an- 
swer the  other  parts.  Surely,  the  Senate  will  not  re- 
sort to  any  such  refinement  in  order  to  imprison  a 
citizen. 

Secondly.  But  there  is  a  broader  objection  still :  that, 
whatever  may  be  the  power  of  the  Senate  in  judicial 
cases,  it  cannot  compel  the  testimony  of  a  witness  in 
a  proceeding  of  which  the  declared  purpose  is  merely 
legislative.  Officers  of  the  Government  communicate 
with  Congress  and  its  committees  simply  by  letter. 
They  are  not  summoned  from  distant  posts,  or  even 
from  their  offices  here.  And  I  know  not  why  a  distant 
citizen,  charged  with  no  offence,  and  in  every  right 
the  peer  of  any  office-holder,  should  be  treated  with 
less  consideration.  If  information  be  desired  from  him 
for  any  legislative  purpose,  let  him  communicate  it  in 
the  way  most  convenient  to  himself,  and  most  consist- 
ent with  those  rights  of  the  citizen  which  all  are  bound 
to  respect. 

At  all  events,  if  this  power  is  to  be  exercised,  let  it 
not  be  under  a  simple  resolution  of  the  Senate,  but  by 
virtue  of  a  general  law,  passed  by  both  Houses,  and 


IN  IMPRISONING  A  CITIZEN.  87 

approved  by  the  President,  so  that  the  citizen  shall  be 
surrounded  with  certain  safeguards. 

Mr.  President,  I  confidently  submit  that  a  power  so 
entirely  without  support,  and  also  so  obnoxious  to  criti- 
cism, at  the  same  time  that  it  is  so  vast,  is  not  to  be  care- 
lessly exercised.  You  cannot  send  the  witness  to  prison 
without  establishing  a  new  precedent  and  commencing 
a  new  class  of  cases.  You  will  declare  that  the  Senate, 
at  any  time,  —  not  merely  in  the  performance  of  admit- 
ted judicial  duties,  but  also  in  the  performance  of  mere 
legislative  duties,  —  may  drag  a  citizen  from  the  most 
distant  village  of  the  most  distant  State,  and  compel  his 
testimony,  involving  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  absent 
persons,  or,  it  may  be,  of  the  witness  himself.  This  is 
a  fearful  prerogative,  and  permit  me  to  say,  that,  in 
assuming  it,  you  liken  yourselves  to  the  Jesuits,  at  the 
period  of  their  most  hateful  supremacy,  when  it  was 
said  that  their  power  was  a  sword  whose  handle  was  at 
Ptome  and  whose  point  was  in  the  most  distant  places. 
You  take  into  your  hands  a  sword  whose  handle  will 
be  in  this  Chamber,  to  be  clutched  by  a  mere  partisan 
majority,  and  whose  point  will  be  in  every  corner  of  the 
Republic. 

If  the  present  case  were  doubtful,  which  I  do  not 
admit,  I  feel  that  I  cannot  go  wrong,  when  I  lean  to  the 
side  of  Liberty.  But,  even  admitting  that  you  have  the 
power,  is  this  the  occasion  to  use  it  ?  Is  it,  upon  the 
whole,  expedient  ?  Is  the  object  to  be  accomplished 
worth  the  sacrifice  ?  It  is  well  to  have  a  giant's  strength, 
but  it  is  tyrannous  to  use  it  like  a  giant. 

For  myself,  Sir,  I  confess  a  feeling  of  gratitude  to  the 
witness,  who,  knowing  nothing  which  he  desires  to  con- 
ceal, and  chiefly  anxious  that  the  liberties  of  all  may 


88  USURPATION   OF  THE  SENATE 

not  suffer  through  him,  feeble  in  body  and  broken  in 
health,  hardly  able  to  endure  the  fatigue  of  appearing  at 
your  bar,  now  braves  the  prison  which  you  menace,  and 
thrusts  his  arm  as  a  bolt  to  arrest  an  unauthorised  and 
arbitrary  proceeding. 

The  resolutions  were  adopted  March  12,  1860,  and  on  the  same  day 
Mr.  Hyatt  was  committed  to  the  common  jail  of  Washington. 

ON  the  15th  of  June,  1860,  Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  Chairman  of  the 
Harper's  Ferry  Investigating  Committee,  in  submitting  his  final  report, 
further  submitted  the  following  order. 

"  Ordered,  That  Thaddeus  Hyatt,  a  witness  confined  in  the  jail  of  this 
city  for  refusal  to  appear  and  testify  before  said  committee,  be  discharged 
from  custody,  and  that  a  copy  of  this  order  be  delivered  to  the  jailer  by  the 
Sergeant-at-Anns,  as  his  warrant  for  discharging  said  prisoner." 

On  the  question  upon  its  passage,  Mr.  Sumner  spoke  as  follows. 

MR  PRESIDENT,  —  I  welcome  with  pleasure  the 
proposition  for  the  discharge  of  Mr.  Hyatt  from 
his  long  incarceration  in  the  filthy  jail  where  he  has 
been  detained  by  the  order  of  the  Senate.  But  I  am 
unwilling  that  this  act  of  justice  should  be  done  to  a 
much  injured  citizen,  without  for  one  moment  exposing 
the  injustice  which  he  has  received  at  your  hands. 

The  case,  it  seems  to  me,  can  be  made  as  plain  as  a 
diagram. 

We  must  not  forget  a  fundamental  difference  between 
the  powers  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the 
powers  of  the  Senate.  It  is  from  the  former  that  the 
Senator  from  Virginia  has  drawn  his  precedents,  and 
here  is  his  mistake. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  expressly  are  given 
by  the  Constitution  inquisitorial  powers,  while  no  such 
powers  are  given  to  the  Senate.  This  is  contained  in 


IN  IMPRISONING  A  CITIZEN.  89 

the  words,  "The  House  of  Eepresentatives  shall  have 
the  sole  power  of  impeachment."  Here,  then,  obvi- 
ously, is  something  delegated  to  the  House,  and  not 
delegated  to  the  Senate,  —  namely,  those  inquiries  in 
their  nature  preliminary  to  impeachment,  which  may 
or  may  not  end  in  impeachment;  and  since,  by  the 
Constitution,  every  "  civil  officer "  of  the  national  gov- 
ernment may  be  impeached,  the  inquisitorial  powers 
of  the  House  may  be  directed  against  every  "civil 
officer,"  from  the  President  down  to  the  lowest  on  the 
list.. 

This  is  an  extensive  power,  but  it  is  confined  sole- 
ly to  the  House.  Strictly  speaking,  the  Senate  has  no 
general  inquisitorial  powers.  It  has,  we  know,  judicial 
powers  in  three  cases  under  the  Constitution :  — 

1.  To  try  impeachments ; 

2.  To  judge  the  elections,  returns,  and  qualifications 
of  its  members ; 

3.  To  punish  its   members  for  disorderly  behavior, 
and,  with  the   concurrence  of  two  thirds,  to  expel  a 
member. 

In  the  execution  of  these  powers,  the  Senate  has  the 
attributes  of  a  court,  and,  according  to  established  prece- 
dents, it  may  summon  witnesses  and  compel  their  testi- 
mony, although  it  may  well  be  doubted  if  a  law  be  not 
necessary  even  to  the  execution  of  this  power. 

Besides  these  three  cases,  expressly  named  in  the 
Constitution,  there  are  two  others,  where  it  has  already 
undertaken  to  exercise  judicial  powers,  not  by  virtue  of 
express  words,  but  in  self-defence :  — 

1.  With  regard  to  the  conduct  of  its  servants,  as  of 
its  Printer ; 

2.  "When  its  privileges  have  been  violated,  as  in  the 


90  USURPATION   OF  THE  SENATE 

case  of  William  Duane,1  by  a  libel,  or  in  the  case  of 
Nugent,2  by  obtaining  and  divulging  a  treaty  while  still 
under  seal  of  secrecy. 

It  will  be  observed  that  these  two  classes  of  cases 
are  not  sustained  by  any  text  of  the  Constitution.  If 
sustained  at  all,  it  must  be  by  that  principle  of  uni- 
versal jurisprudence,  and  also  of  natural  law,  which 
gives  to  every  body,  whether  natural  or  artificial,  the 
right  to  protect  its  own  existence,  —  in  other  words,  the 
great  right  of  self-defence.  And  I  submit  that  no  prin- 
ciple less  solid  can  sustain  this  exercise  of  power.  It 
is  not  enough  to  say  that  such  a  power  would  be  con- 
venient, highly  convenient,  or  important.  It  must  be 
absolutely  essential  to  the  self-preservation  of  the  body ; 
and  even  then,  in  the  absence  of  any  law,  it  must  be 
open  in  our  country  to  the  gravest  doubts. 

"Doubtless,"  says  Blackstone,  "all  arbitrary  powers, 
well  executed,  are  the  most  convenient."  3  But  mere  con- 
venience is  not  a  proper  reason,  under  a  free  government, 
for  the  assumption  of  powers  not  granted ;  and  this  is 
especially  the  case  where  the  powers  are  arbitrary  and 
despotic,  and  touch  the  liberty  of  the  citizen. 

1  Annals  of  Congress,  6th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  p.  113,  March  20,  1800. 

2  As  this  case  was  in  Executive  Session  of  the  Senate,  there  is  no  public 
record  of  it.     From  the  daily  press  of  the  time  it  appears,  that,  March  23, 
1848,  Nugent,  a  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald,  was  arrested  by 
order  of  the  Senate,  and  committed  to  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  for  obtaining 
surreptitiously  and  publishing  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo;  that  he 
remained  in  such  custody  until  April  25th,  and  perhaps  longer;  that  he  re- 
fused to  answer  questions  concerning  the  treaty;  that  he  was  twice  taken 
before  Judge  Cranch,  of  the  United  States  Court,  by  Habeas  Corjms;  that  the 
Sergeant-at-Arms  returned  for  answer  to  the  writ,  that  he  held  the  prisoner 
by  virtue  of  a  warrant  of  the  Vice-President,  in  pursuance  of  certain  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Senate  in  Executive  Session,  which  he  could  not  divulge, 
arid  that  the  question  gave  rise  to  much  debate  in  Executive  Session.     See 
especially  Baltimore  .St»n,  March  24,  26,  29,  April  18,  1848. 

•  Commentaries,  Vol.  IV.  p.  360. 


IN  IMPRISONING  A  CITIZEN.  91 

Now,  if  the  present  inquiry  were  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  were  directed  against  the  Presi- 
dent or  the  Secretary  of  War,  on  the  ground  of  negli- 
gence or  malfeasance  at  an  important  moment,  it  would 
be  clearly  within  the  jurisdiction  of  that  body,  which 
has  the  sole  power  of  impeachment ;  but  it  would  not 
come  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Senate,  until  it  be- 
came the  duty  of  the  latter  body  to  try  the  impeach- 
ment instituted  by  the  House. 

But  the  present  inquiry  is  neither  preliminary  to  im- 
peachment nor  on  the  trial  of  an  impeachment.  It  has 
no  such  element.  It  is  precisely  the  same  as  if  an  in- 
quiry should  be  instituted  into  the  murder  of  Dr.  Bur- 
dell  in  New  York,  or  into  the  burning  of  slaves  in  Ala- 
bama, or  into  the  banks  of  New  York,  or  into  the  con- 
duct of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Wisconsin  in  alleged 
obstructions  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  —  with  regard 
to  all  which  the  Senate  has  no  judicial  powers.  And 
yet  it  has  judicial  powers  in  all  these  cases,  precisely  to 
the  same  extent  that  it  has  in  the  case  of  John  Brown 
at  Harper's  Ferry. 

I  know  it  is  said  that  this  power  is  necessary  in 
aid  of  legislation.  I  deny  the  necessity.  Convenient, 
at  times,  it  may  be ;  but  necessary,  never.  We  do  not 
drag  members  of  the  Cabinet  or  the  President  to  testify 
before  a  committee,  in  aid  of  legislation  ;  but  I  say,  with- 
out hesitation,  they  can  claim  no  immunity  which  does 
not  belong  equally  to  the  humblest  citizen.  Mr.  Hyatt 
and  Mr.  Sanborn  have  rights  as  ample  as  if  they  were 
office-holders.  Such  a  power  as  this  —  which,  without 
the  sanction  of  law,  and  merely  at  the  will  of  a  parti- 
san majority,  may  be  employed  to  ransack  the  most 
distant  States,  and  to  drag  citizens  before  the  Senate  all 


92  USURPATION   OF  THE   SENATE 

the  way  from  Wisconsin  or  from  South  Carolina  —  may 
be  convenient,  and  to  certain  persons  may  seem  to  be 
necessary.  Throughout  all  time  alleged  necessity  has 
been  the  apology  for  wrong. 

44  So  spake  the  Fiend,  and  with  necessity, 
The  tyrant's  plea,  excused  his  devilish  deeds." 

Such,  according  to  Milton,  was  the  practice  among  the 
fallen  angels. 

Let  me  be  understood  as  admitting  the  power  of  the 
Senate,  where  it  is  essential  to  its  own  protection  or  the 
protection  of  its  privileges,  but  not  where  it  is  required 
merely  in  aid  of  legislation.  The  difference  is  world- 
wide between  what  is  required  for  protection  and  what 
is  required  merely  for  aid  ;  and  here  I  part  from  Sena- 
tors with  whom  I  am  proud  on  other  matters  to  act. 
They  hold  that  this  great  power  may  be  exercised,  not 
merely  for  the  protection  of  the  Senate,  but  also  for  its 
aid  in  framing  a  bill  or  in  maturing  any  piece  of  legis- 
lation. To  aid  a  committee  of  this  body  merely  in  a 
legislative  purpose,  a  citizen,  guilty  of  no  crime,  charged 
with  no  offence,  presumed  to  be  innocent,  honored  and 
beloved  in  his  neighborhood,  may  be  seized,  handcuffed, 
kidnapped,  and  dragged  away  from  home,  hurried  across 
State  lines,  brought  here  as  criminal,  and  then  thrust 
into  jail.  The  mere  statement  of  the  case  shows  the 
dangerous  absurdity  of  such  a  claim.  "  Nephew,"  said 
Algernon  Sidney  in  prison,  on  the  night  before  his 
execution,  "  I  value  not  my  own  life  a  chip  ;  but  what 
concerns  me  is,  that  the  law  which  takes  away  my  life 
may  hang  every  one  of  you,  whenever  it  is  thought  con- 
venient." It  was  a  dangerous  law  that  aroused  the 
indignation  of  the  English  patriot.  But  in  the  present 


DT  IMPRISONING  A  CITIZEN.  93 

case  there  is  not  even  a  law,  —  nothing  but  an  order 
made  by  a  fractional  part  of  Congress. 

There  are  Senators  here  who  pretend  to  find  in  the 
Constitution  the  right  to  carry  slaves  into  the  National 
Territories.  That  such  Senators  should  also  find  in  the 
same  Constitution  the  right  to  make  a  slave  of  Mr. 
Hyatt  or  Mr.  Sanborn,  or  of  anybody  else,  merely  to 
aid  legislation,  is  not  astonishing;  but  I  am  at  a  loss 
how  Senators  who  love  Freedom  can  find  any  such 
right  in  the  Constitution. 

I  say  nothing  now  of  precedents  from  the  British 
Parliament,  for  they  are  all  more  or  less  inapplicable. 
We  live  under  a  written  Constitution,  with  certain  spe- 
cified powers ;  and  all  these  are  restricted  by  the  Tenth 
Amendment,  declaring  that  "  the  powers  not  delegated 
to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited 
by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respective- 
ly, or  to  the  people."  But  even  British  precedents  have 
found  a  critic  at  home,  in  the  late  Chief  Justice  of  Eng- 
land, Lord  Denman,  pronouncing  judgment  in  the  great 
case  of  Stockdale  v.  Hansard*  —  and  also  in  the  words 
of  an  elegant  and  authoritative  historian,  whose  life  has 
been  passed  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  Houses  of 
Parliament :  I  refer  to  Lord  Mahon,  now  Earl  Stanhope, 
who,  in  his  History  of  England,  thus  remarks :  — 

"  I  may  observe,  in  passing,  that  throughout  the  reign  of 
George  the  Second  the  privileges  of  the  House  of  Commons 

flourished  in  the  rankest  luxuriance So  long  as  men  in 

authority  are  enabled  to  go  beyond  the  law,  on  the  plea  of 
their  own  dignity  and  power,  the  ONLY  limit  to  tJieir  encroach- 
ments will  be  thai  of  the  public  endurance"  a 

1  9  Adolphus  and  Ellis,  1. 

a  Lord  Mahon,  History  of  England,  Chap.  XXXI.  VoL  IV.  p.  20. 


94  USURPATION  OF  THE  SENATE. 

Nothing  can  be  more  true  than  this  warning.  But 
Lord  Brougham  has  expressed  himself  in  words  yet 
stronger,  and,  if  possible,  still  more  applicable  to  the 
present  case. 

"All  rights,"  says  this  consummate  orator,  uare  now 
utterly  disregarded  by  the  advocates  of  Privilege,  except- 
ing that  of  exposing  their  own  short-sighted  impolicy  and 
thoughtless  inconsistency.  Nor  would  there  be  any  safety 
for  the  people  under  their  guidance,  if  unhappily  their  pow- 
ers of  doing  mischief  bore  any  proportion  to  their  disregard 
of  what  is  politic  and  just." l 

With  these  observations  I  quit  this  question,  anxious 
only  that  the  recent  Usurpation  of  the  Senate  may  not 
be  drawn  into  a  precedent  hereafter. 

During  Mr.  Hyatt's  protracted  imprisonment,  Mr.  Sumner  visited 
him  constantly,  and  thus  became  familiar  with  the  condition  of  the 
jail.  Tliis  led  to  the  introduction  of  the  following  resolution,  March 
13,  1860. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia  be  directed 
to  consider  the  expediency  of  doing  something  to  improve  the  condition  of 
the  common  jail  of  the  city  of  Washington." 

Before  the  vote  on  the  resolution  was  taken,  Mr.  Sumner  remarked 
that  he  had  visited  the  jail,  and  found  it  neither  more  nor  less  than  a 
mere  human  sty  ;  and  since  the  Senate  had  undertaken  to  send  a  fellow- 
creature  there,  he  thought  that  the  least  it  could  do  was  to  see  that 
something  was  done  to  improve  its  condition. 

1  Privilege  of  Parliament,  Introduction:  Speeches  of  Henry  Lord  Brougham 
upon  Questions  relating  to  Public  Bights,  Duties,  and  Interests,  Vol.  IV. 
p.  363. 


ABOLITION  OF  CUSTOM-HOUSE  OATHS. 

RESOLUTION  IN  THE  SENATE,  MARCH  15,  1860. 


MR.  STTJTNER  submitted  the  following  resolution,  which  was  con- 
sidered by  unanimous  consent,  and  agreed  to. 

RESOLVED,  That  the  Committee  on  Finance  be 
instructed  to  consider  whether  the  numerous  cus- 
tom-house oaths,  now  administered  under  Acts  of  Con- 
gress, may  not  with  propriety  be  abolished,  and  a  simple 
declaration  be  substituted  therefor. 


BOSTON  COMMON,  AND  ITS  EXTENSION. 

LETTER  TO  GEORGE  H.  SHELLING,  ESQ.,  or  BOSTON 
MARCH  26,  1860. 


MR.  SNELLING  interested  himself  much  with  regard  to  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  lands  west  of  Boston  Common,  known  as  the  "  Back  Bay 
Lands,"  and  owned  by  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts.  Be- 
yond a  general  desire  to  keep  them  open,  his  special  aim  was  to  have 
a  tidal  lake,  bordered  by  avenues  with  trees.  In  this  ellbrt  he  was 
aided  particularly  by  John  A.  Andrew,  afterwards  Governor.  Other 
citizens,  including  the  venerable  Josiah  Quincy,  Professor  Agassiz,  and 
Dr.  Edward  Jarvis,  wrote  letters,  published  at  the  time,  and  used  be- 
fore the  Committee  of  the  Legislature  to  whom  the  matter  was  re- 
ferred. Among  these  was  the  following. 


SENATE  CHAMBER,  March  26,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  grateful  for  your  timely 
intervention  to  save  our  Boston  Common,  by 
keeping  it  open  to  the  western  breezes  and  the  setting 
sun.  It  is  not  pleasant,  I  know,  to  separate  in  opinion 
from  those  about  us ;  but  your  object  is  so  disinterested, 
so  pure,  so  benevolent,  so  truly  in  the  nature  of  a  char- 
ity, that  all,  even  though  differing  in  details,  must  be 
glad  that  you  have  come  forward. 

I  know  well  the  value  of  water  in  scenery.  Perhaps 
nothing  else  adds  so  much  to  the  effect  of  a  landscape, 
which,  indeed,  without  water  often  seems  lifeless,  or,  as 
was  once  said  by  a  valued  friend  of  mine,  "  like  a  face 
without  eyes."  Boston,  from  its  peninsular  situation, 


BOSTON  COMMON,  AND  ITS  EXTENSION.  97 

cannot  be  entirely  deprived  of  this  picturesque  feature. 
It  seems  to  me,  however,  that,  in  a  region  like  that  now 
in  question,  we  should  hesitate  long  before  renouncing 
the  opportunity  of  adding  to  its  attractions  by  a  piece 
of  water,  which,  from  perennial  supply,  would  always 
prove  an  ornament  of  unsurpassed  beauty,  as  well  as  a 
place  of  recreation,  and  a  source  of  health. 

On  this  it  is  useless  to  enlarge.  All  who  have  ever 
stood  on  Boston  Common  will  easily  see  how  much  this 
pleasant  retreat  must  lose  in  charm,  when  its  great 
western  vista  is  closed ;  and  all  who  have  ever  specu- 
lated on  the  probable  growth  of  our  metropolis,  and  the 
longing  of  a  crowded  population  for  fresh  air,  will  recog- 
nize the  necessity  for  open  spaces,  which  will  be  out- 
door ventilators. 

Boston  is  already  growing  in  every  direction.  A 
wise  forecast,  if  not  able  at  once  to  provide  all  the 
means  needful  for  its  salubrity  and  adornment,  will  at 
least  avoid  embarrassing  the  future,  when  half  a  mil- 
lion of  souls  have  built  their  homes  about  the  ancient 
Trimountain. 

Our  Common  has  been  ample  enough  for  the  past; 
but  the  metropolis  has  already  outgrown  it  in  every 
respect.  Besides  being  too  narrow  in  proportions,  it  is 
wanting  in  those  accessories  of  beauty  and  of  knowl- 
edge especially  illustrative  of  Natural  History,  which, 
according  to  the  experience  of  other  countries,  are 
proper  for  public  grounds.  I  wish  much  to  see  there, 
among  other  things,  an  arboretum,  where  every  tree 
that  can  bear. our  climate  shall  find  its  classified  place, 
—  pleasing  the  eye  by  its  beauty,  protecting  the  body 
by  its  shade,  and  speaking  to  all  by  the  voice  of 
Science. 

VOL.  YI.  —  7 


98  BOSTON   COMMON,  AND   ITS  EXTENSION. 

Accept  the  thanks  of  an  absent  citizen,  who  never 
thinks  of  his  native  Boston  without  a  yearning  to  see 
it  foremost  in  all  that  contributes  to  a  true  civilization ; 
and  believe  me  to  be,  my  dear  Sir, 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

CHAELES  SUMNER. 
To  GEORGE  H.  SHELLING,  Esq. 


ATTEMPT  TO  KIDNAP  A  CITIZEN  UNDER  ORDER 
OF  THE  SENATE, 

THE  CASE  OF  FRANK  B.  SANBORN,  OF  CONCORD,  MASSACHUSETTS,  WITH 
SPEECHES  m  THE  SENATE,  APRIL  10,  13,  AND  16,  1860. 


THE  case  of  Mr.  Sanborn  illustrates  the  reach  of  the  Slave  Power, 
and  the  extent  to  which  the  Senate  did  its  bidding,  at  the  instance  of 
the  author  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill.  It  is  one  of  the  skirmishes  in 
the  warfare  with  Slavery. 

April  10,  1860,  Mr.  Suraner  presented  the  memorial  of  Mr.  Sanborn, 
which  he  explained  as  follows. 

I  HAVE  a  memorial,  Mr.  President,  from  Frank  B. 
Sanborn,  of  Concord,  Massachusetts,  setting  forth  a 
gross  attempt  to  kidnap,  by  men  pretending  to  act  in 
the  name  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  The 
memorial  is  authenticated  by  his  affidavit  before  a 
notary  public.  It  sets  forth,  that,  on  the  evening  of  the 
3d  of  April,  certain  persons,  who  had  been  prowling 
about  his  neighborhood,  under  shelter  of  night,  with 
fraudulent  pretence  drew  him  to  his  door,  seized  him, 
handcuffed  him,  and  then  by  force  undertook  to  convey 
him  to  a  carriage.  By  the  courageous  interposition  of 
a  refined  lady,  his  sister,  neighbors  were  aroused;  the 
village  was  next  summoned  by  the  ringing  of  bells, 
and  at  length  that  great  friend  of  the  oppressed  in 
our  country,  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  arrived  on 
the  ground.  By  intervention  of  that  writ  he  was  taken 
from  the  custody  of  the  kidnappers.  The  next  day  a 


100  ATTEMPT   TO   KIDNAP   A   CITIZEN 

hearing  was  had  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  and  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  for  thirty  years  the 
honored  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts,  whose  opinions 
are  respected  in  every  part  of  the  country,  representing 
the  full  bench,  without  undertaking  to  pass  upon  the 
question  of  jurisdiction  in  the  Senate,  went  on  to  de- 
clare that  the  power  delegated  to  its  Sergeant-at-Arms 
could  not  be  delegated  to  another,  and  that  therefore  all 
these  proceedings  were  void,  and  the  prisoner  was  dis- 
charged. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  this  act,  it  seems  to  me,  is  con- 
spicuous, both  from  the  person  against  whom  it  was 
directed  and  the  place  where  it  was  attempted.  It  was 
directed  against  Mr.  Sanborn,  a  quiet  citizen  engaged  in 
the  instruction  of  youth,  a  scholar  of  excellent  attain- 
ments, of  perfect  purity,  and  much  beloved  by  friends 
and  neighbors.  It  was  attempted  at  Concord,  where 
another  seizure  was  once  attempted,  which  began  that 
revolutionary  contest  that  ended  in  Independence.  I 
affirm,  Mr.  President,  that  a  person  like  Mr.  Sanborn, 
having  suffered  this  outrage  at  the  hands  of  persons 
claiming  to  act  in  the  name  of  the  Senate,  has  a  right  to 
redress  in  this  body:  and  I  assert,  still  further,  that 
this  body  owes  something  to  its  own  character ;  it  ought 
to  wash  its  hands  of  such  an  outrage.  I  offer  his  me- 
morial, and  ask  its  reference  to  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary,  and,  that  the  Senate  may  better  understand 
it,  I  think  it  ought  to  be  printed.  I  move  also  its 
printing. 

Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  Chairman  of  the  Harper's  Ferry  Committee, 
made  an  explanation  of  the  attempt  to  arrest  Mr.  Sanborn,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  said  :  "This  man  Sanborn  was  in  correspondence 
either  with  the  man  who  was  not  long  since  hung  in  Virginia  for  his 


UNDER   ORDER   OF   THE   SENATE.  101 

conduct  as  a  traitor  and  murderer  at  Harper's  Ferry,  or  with  some  of 
his  associates,  I  do  not  recollect  which."  At  the  call  of  Mr.  Fessen- 
den  the  memorial  was  read,  when  Mr.  Sumner  said,  in  reply  to  Mr. 
Mason  :  — 

I  merely  wish  to  correct  one  error  into  which  the 
Senator  has  fallen.  He  states  that  Mr.  Sanborn  was 
taken  from  the  custody  of  those  pretended  officers  by  a 
mob.  Now  nothing  is  within  my  knowledge  except 
what  is  authenticated  by  that  memorial  under  oath, 
and  there  the  statement  is  express  that  he  was  not 
taken  from  the  custody  of  these  pretended  officers  ex- 
cept by  the  intervention  of  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus, 
sustained  by  the  posse  comitatus  of  the  neighborhood. 

Mr.  Mason  having  stated  that  he  expected  a  return  of  the  officer,  at 
his  suggestion  the  memorial  was  laid  on  the  table  to  await  that  return. 
To  this  Mr.  Sumner  consented,  as  he  declared,  with  great  reluctance, 
and  with  the  understanding  that  then  it  should  be  referred. 

April  13,  1860,  Mr.  Sumner  presented  additional  papers  in  the  case. 
After  reading  these,  he  said :  — 

There,  Sir,  is  the  official  response  to  the  assertion  of 
the  Senator  from  Virginia.  The  Senator  says  that  Mr. 
Sanborn  was  rescued  by  a  mob.  It  is  true  there  was 
a  mob  in  Concord.  It  was  a  mob  of  kidnappers,  who 
went  there  in  the  name  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  to  seize  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts.  I  have 
here  a  letter  which  I  have  received  from  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Concord,  present  at  the  time.  This  is  his 
statement :  — 

"  No  rescue  by  the  crowd  was  made  or  attempted,  till  the 
writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  was  served ;  and  this,  even,  Carleton 
and  his  fellows  resisted,  till  the  deputy  sheriff  was  obliged 

to  use  force  to  take  Mr.  Sanborn  from  him The 

arrest  was  as  brutal,  cowardly,  and  outrageous  a  proceed- 


102  ATTEMPT  TO   KIDNAP  A  CITIZEN 

ing  as  I  ever  knew  in  seven  years'  experience  as  sheriff 
of  that  county." 

Sir,  it  is  not  unnatural  that  an  arrest  made  under 
such  circumstances  should  have  attracted  attention  in 
that  town  and  throughout  Massachusetts.  It  did  so. 
It  has  excited  a  feeling  of  indignation  against  this 
attempt,  increased,  perhaps,  when  people  put  the  ques- 
tion, "  Why  all  this  effort  to  seize  Mr.  Sanborn  ?  Why 
this  overthrow  of  law  to  accomplish  such  a  purpose  ? " 

It  is  notorious  that  there  is  a  citizen  of  Virginia,  for- 
merly chief  magistrate  of  that  State,  who  has  openly 
avowed  that  he  knew  much  in  regard  to  the  very  mat- 
ters in  inquiry  before  that  committee,  and  that  rubies 
could  not  bribe  him  to  disclose  it.  He  has  thrown  the 
challenge  down  to  that  committee  and  this  Senate, 
before  the  whole  country,  refusing  openly  to  testify ; 
and  yet  that  committee  make  no  motion  to  bring  Ex- 
Governor  Wise  before  the  Senate,  and  compel  him  to 
testify.  Instead,  the  committee  seeks  a  Northern  man, 
Mr.  Hyatt,  now  in  jail,  and  another  Northern  man,  Mr. 
Sanborn,  who  it  is  well  understood  know  nothing  of 
the  matter;  and  it  follows  up  Mr.  Sanborn  by  an  at- 
tempt which  I  characterize  here  as  simply  an  act  of 
kidnapping. 

Mr.  Mason,  in  reply,  insisted,  at  some  length,  that  Mr.  Sumner  could 
have  no  information  on  the  action  of  the  committee,  which  had  not 
yet  reported.  To  this  Mr.  Sumner  rejoined  :  — 

Mr.  President,  I  profess  to  have  no  information  ex- 
cept what  is  open  to  all  the  world  ;  and  there  are  two 
things  open  to  all  the  world,  through  the  public  press : 
first,  that  the  Ex-Governor  cf  Virginia  has  more  than. 
once  declared  that  he  had  important  information  in 


UNDER  OBDER  OF  THE   SENATE.  103 

reference  to  the  matter  before  the  committee,  and  that 
rubies  would  not  tempt  him  to  disclose  it ;  and,  secondly, 
it  is  known  that  the  Ex-Governor  of  Virginia  has  not 
been  brought  to  Washington,  as  Mr.  Hyatt  has  been, 
and  as  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  bring  Mr.  Sanborn. 
No  kidnappers  have  been  sent  into  Virginia,  nor  hand- 
cuffs put  upon  Ex-Governor  Wise. 

April  16,  1860,  Mr.  Mason  presented  to  the  Senate  the  warrant  for 
the  arrest  of  Mr.  Sanborn,  with  the  return  of  the  Deputy  Marshal  of 
Massachusetts  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  and  moved  its  reference  to 
the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  with  instructions  to  inquire  and 
report  whether  any,  and  what,  further  proceedings  were  necessary  to 
vindicate  the  authority  of  the  Senate  and  to  effect  the  arrest  of  the 
witnesses.  This  motion  was  agreed  to.  Mr.  Sumner  then  moved  that 
the  memorial  of  Mr.  Sanborn,  with  the  additional  papers,  be  taken 
from  the  table  and  referred  to  the  same  committee.  Here  Mr.  Mason 
promptly  interposed  the  very  unusual  motion  that  the  memorial  be 
rejected.  The  Chair  decided  that  the  motion  "to  reject"  could  not 
take  precedence,  and  therefore  the  motion  to  refer  was  first  in  order. 
Then  it  was  that  Mr.  Sumner  spoke  as  follows. 

Mr.  President,  I  think  that  I  ought  not  to  listen  to 
such  a  proposition  as  has  been  made  by  the  Senator 
from  Virginia  with  reference  to  this  memorial,  without 
one  word  in  reply.  Here  is  a  memorial  from  a  gentle- 
man of  perfect  respectability,  charged  with  no  crime, 
presumed  to  be  innocent,  complaining  of  gross  outrage 
at  the  hands  of  certain  persons  pretending  to  act  in 
the  name  of  the  Senate.  The  facts  are  duly  set  forth. 
They  are  authenticated  also  by  documents  now  of  rec- 
ord. The  Senator  moves  —  without  any  reference  to  a 
committee,  without  giving  the  petition  the  decency  of  a 
hearing,  according  to  the  ordinary  forms  of  this  body  — 
that  the  memorial  be  "  rejected  " ;  and  he  makes  this 
unaccustomed  motion  with  a  view  to  establish  a  prece- 


104  ATTEMPT  TO  KIDNAP  A  CITIZEN 

dent  in  such  a  case.  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  establish  a 
precedent  also  in  this  case,  by  entering  an  open,  une- 
quivocal protest  against  such  attempt.  Sir,  an  ancient 
poet  said  of  a  judge  in  hell,  that  he  punished  first  and 
heard  afterwards,  —  "  castiyatque  auditque  "  ;  and,  per- 
mit me  to  say,  the  Senator  from  Virginia,  on  this  occa- 
sion, takes  a  precedent  from  that  court. 

To  this  protest  Mr.  Mason  replied:  "The  Senator  from  Massa- 
chusetts, it  seems  to  me,  makes  an  opportunity  to  use  language  in  the 
Senate  Chamber  which,  so  far  as  my  intercourse  with  the  world  goes,  is 
not  usual  out  of  the  Senate  Chamber.  There  is  nothing  in  it  that  I 
have  a  right  to  take  as  personally  offensive  to  myself.  The  Senate  is 
the  proper  judge  and  arbiter  of  the  decorum  of  its  own  proceedings." 

Then  ensued  a  debate  on  the  return,  in  which  Mr.  Bayard,  of  Dela- 
ware, and  Mr.  Trumbull,  of  Illinois,  took  part,  when  Mr.  Sumner,  a* 
last  obtaining  the  floor,  remarked  as  follows. 

Only  one  word.  I  presented  a  memorial  to  this 
body,  setting  forth  an  outrage.  The  Senator  from  Vir- 
ginia moved  its  rejection,  while  he  proposed  that  the 
case  should  be  proceeded  with.  I  characterized  that 
motion  as  I  thought  I  was  authorized  to  do,  referring 
to  a  precedent  of  antiquity,  and  that  was  all ;  and  this 
is  the  occasion  for  a  lecture  from  the  Senator  on  the 
manner  in  which  one  should  conduct  on  this  floor. 
From  the  heights  of  his  self-confidence  he  addresses 
me.  Sir,  I  wish  to  say  simply,  in  reply,  that,  when  an 
outrage  comes  before  this  body,  I  shall  denounce  it  in 
plain  terms ;  and  if  a  precedent  from  a  very  bad  place 
seems  to  be  in  point,  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  quote  it. 

Mr.  Mason  rejoined  :  "I  did  not  undertake  to  lecture  the  Senator, 
of  all  others,  upon  the  subject  of  manners  or  propriety.  I  do  not 
mean  it  offensively,  but,  for  my  own  convenience,  I  should  consider  it 
time  thrown  away.  All  that  I  said  was,  that  I  was  not  accustomed,  in 
my  intercourse  with  the  world  outside  of  this  Chamber,  to  hear  language 
of  that  sort  in  the  circles  in  which  I  move." 


UNDER  ORDER  OF  THE  SENATE.  105 

April  17,  1860,  the  memorial  of  Mr.  Sanborn  was  referred  to  the 
Judiciary  Committee,  according  to  the  motion  of  Mr.  Sumner. 

June  7,  Mr.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  from  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary,  to  whom  was  referred  the  return  of  the  Deputy-Marshal 
and  the  other  papers,  reported  a  "  Bill  concerning  the  Sergeant-at- 
Arms  of  "the  Senate  and  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives," authorizing  the  appointment  of  deputies.  This  was 
intended  to  meet  the  decision  of  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  of  Massachu- 
setts.1 

June  15,  Mr.  Bayard  moved  to  proceed  with  the  consideration 
of  his  bill.  The  motion  was  not  agreed  to,  —  there  being,  on  a  divis- 
ion, ayes  22,  noes  25.  This  was  the  end  of  that  bill. 

This  incident  was  much  noticed  by  the  Northern  press,  especially  in 
Massachusetts.  The  Boston  Atlas  and  Bee  expressed  itself  thus  :  — 

"  In  our  opinion  the  people  of  the  Free  States  are  never  better  satisfied 
with  their  representatives  than  when  they  see  them  repelling  indignantly 
and  manfully  the  arrogant  insults  of  the  slave-driving  aristocracy.  It  will 
not  diminish  their  attachment  to  Mr.  Sumner,  when  they  take  notice  that 
his  rebuke  of  Mr.  Mason  was  not  in  reply  to  any  insult  upon  himself,  but 
upon  one  of  his  outraged  and  abused  constituents." 

1  Sanborn  v.  Carleton,  16  Gray,  399. 


PETITIONS  AGAINST  SLAVERY. 

SPEECH  IN  THE  SENATE,  APRIL  18.  1860. 


THE  treatment  of  these  petitions  illustrates  the  tyranny  of  the  Slave 
Power  to  the  very  eve  of  its  fall.  Such  an  incident  is  not  without 
historic  significance. 


ME.  PEESIDENT,— I  present  the  petition  of  Henry 
Elwell,  Jr.,  and  four  hundred  and  fifty-five  others, 
of  Manchester,  in  Massachusetts,  earnestly  petitioning 
Congress  to  repeal  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1850,  —  to 
abolish  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  the 
United  States  Territories,  —  to  prohibit  the  inter-State 
slave-trade,  —  and  to  pass  a  resolution  pledging  Congress 
against  the  admission  of  any  Slave  State  into  the  Union, 
the  acquisition  of  any  Slave  Territory,  and  the  employ- 
ment of  any  slaves  by  any  agent,  contractor,  officer,  or 
department  of  the  National  Government;  also,  a  like 
petition  of  Alvan  Howes  and  fifty-five  others,  of  Barn- 
stable,  Massachusetts  ;  also,  a  like  petition  of  John 
Clement  and  one  hundred  and  nineteen  others,  of  Town- 
send,  Massachusetts ;  also,  a  like  petition  of  Samuel 
L.  Eockwood  and  seventy-three  others,  of  Weymouth, 
Massachusetts ;  also,  a  like  petition  of  J.  H.  Browne 
and  sixty-four  others,  of  Sudbury,  Massachusetts ;  also, 
a  like  petition  of  Daniel  Hosmer  and  ninety-eight  others, 
of  Sterling,  Massachusetts  ;  also,  a  like  petition  of  Al- 


PETITIONS  AGAINST  SLAVERY.  107 

bert  Gould  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  others  of 
Leicester,  Massachusetts ;  also,  a  like  petition  of  James 
M.  Evelett  and  two  hundred  others,  of  Princeton, 
Massachusetts ;  also,  a  like  petition  of  Daniel  Otis 
and  seventy-nine  others,  of  South  Scituate,  Massachu- 
setts ;  also,  a  like  petition  of  Calvin  Cutter  and  eighty- 
four  others,  of  Warren,  Massachusetts ;  also,  a  like  pe- 
tition of  K.  W.  French  and  thirty  others,  of  Lawrence, 
Massachusetts;  also,  a  like  petition  of  Edmund  H. 
Sears  and  two  hundred  and  forty-five  others,  of  Way- 
land,  Massachusetts. 

These  several  petitions  I  now  present.  On  a  former 
occasion,  during  this  session,  a  similar  petition  presented 
by  me  was  laid  upon  the  table.  A  similar  petition  pre- 
sented by  another  Senator  was  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Judiciary.  An  authoritative  precedent,  es- 
tablished after  debate,  since  I  have  been  in  the  Senate, 
seems  to  be  the  best  guide  on  this  occasion.  That  was 
on  a  memorial  from  four  thousand  citizens  of  Boston, 
praying  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act.  After 
ample  consideration,  during  which  much  was  said  against 
the  memorialists,  no  proposition  was  made  to  lay  their 
prayer  on  the  table.  Following  that  precedent,  and 
another  established  during  the  present  session,  I  move 
that  all  these  petitions  be  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  the  Judiciary. 


Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  at  once  moved  that  the  petitions  lie  on  the 
table,  thus  precluding  debate  and  stifling  action.  The  yeas  and  nays 
were  ordered  on  motion  of  Mr.  Sumner,  and  resulted  as  follows,  25  yeas 
and  19  nays  :  — 

YEAS,  —  Messrs.  Bayard,  Bragg,  Chesnut,  Clay,  Clingman,  Critten- 
den,  Davis,  Fitch,  Fitzpatrick,  Gwin,  Hemphill,  Hunter,  Iverson, 
Johnson  of  Arkansas,  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  Kennedy,  Lane,  La- 


108  PETITIONS  AGAINST   SLAVERY. 

tham,  Mason,  Nicholson,  Polk,  Rice,  Sebastian,  Slidell,  and  Thom- 
son, —  25. 

NAYS,  —  Messrs.  Bingham,  Cameron,  Chandler,  Clark,  Collamer, 
Dixon,  Doolittle,  Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster,  Hale,  Hamlin,  King,  Sew- 
ard,  Sumner,  Trumbull,  "Wade,  Wilkinson,  and  Wilson,  — 19. 

So  the  petitions  were  ordered  to  lie  on  the  table.  The  Democrats  all 
voted  yea  j  the  Republicans  all  voted  nay. 


SAFETY  OF  PASSENGERS  IN  STEAMSHIPS  FOR 
CALIFORNIA. 

RESOLUTION  AND  REMARKS  IN  THE  SENATE,  MAT  21,  1860. 


MAT  21,  1860,  Mr.  Sumner  introduced  the  following  resolution. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Commerce  be  instructed  to  consider 
the  expediency  of  further  action,  in  order  to  secure  proper  accommodations 
and  proper  safety  for  passengers  on  board  the  steamers  between  New  York 
and  San  Francisco,  and  to  increase  the  efficacy  of  the  existing  passenger 
laws  of  the  United  States  in  their  application  to  California  passengers; 
with  liberty  to  report  by  bill  or  otherwise." 

The  Senate,  by  unanimous  consent,  proceeded  to  consider  the 
resolution. 


MR  PEESIDENT,  — I  see  the  Senator  from  Cali- 
fornia [Mr.  LATHAM]  in  his  place,  and  I  very 
gladly  take  the  opportunity  of  calling  his  attention 
particularly  to  the  resolution  which  I  now  have  the 
honor  to  offer.  By  a  communication  in  the  newspapers, 
from  a  distinguished  source, — a  clergyman,  who,  during 
the  last  two  months,  sailed  from  Boston  to  San  Fran- 
cisco,1—  it  appears  that  the  steamers  are  overloaded 
with  passengers,  and  without  adequate  accommodations 
of  other  kinds  for  safety.  His  statement  on  the  subject 
is  explicit,  and  has  been  made  in  the  newspapers,  as 
also  in  private  letters  to  his  friends.  I  do  not  know 
that  the  evil  can  be  reached  by  any  additional  legisla- 

1  Ber.  Thomas  Starr  King. 


110          PASSENGEKS  IN   CALIFORNIA  STEAMSHIPS. 

tion;  perhaps  no  additional  legislation  is  needed;  but  it 
is  an  evil  which  should  be  remedied  in  some  way,  or 
else  we  shall  be  startled  some  morning  by  the  news 
of  a  great  calamity,  —  the  loss  of  one  of  these  steamers, 
with,  it  may  be,  a  thousand  passengers. 


CANDIDATES  WHO  ARE  A  PLATFORM. 

LETTER  TO  A  RATIFICATION  MEETING  AT  BUFFALO,  NEW  YORK, 
MAY  30,  1860. 


THIS  was  addressed  to  a  meeting  at  Buffalo  for  the  ratification  of  the 
nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  President  and  Hannibal  Hamlin  as 
Vice-President. 

SENATE  CHAMBER,  May  30,  1860. 

DEAE  SIR, —  My  duties  here  will  not  allow  me 
to  be  with  you  at  Buffalo;  but  I  shall  unite 
with  you  in  every  generous  word  uttered  for  Freedom, 
and  in  every  pledge  of  enthusiastic  support  to  the  Re- 
publican candidates. 

We  have  a  Platform  of  noble  principles,  and  candi- 
dates, each  of  whom,  through  his  well-known  principles 
and  integrity  of  character,  is  a  Platform  in  himself. 

Accept  my  thanks  for  the  honor  of  your  invitation, 
and  believe  me,  dear  Sir, 

Faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNEB. 
A.  W.  HAKVET,  ESQ. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 


SPEECH  IN  THE  SENATE,  ON  THE  BILL  FOR  THE  ADMISSION  OF  KANSAS 
AS  A  FREE  STATE,  JUNE  4,  1860. 


Thou  art  a  slave,  whom  Fortune's  tender  arm 
With  favor  never  clasped,  but  bred  a  dog. 

SHAKESPEARE,  Timon  of  Athent,  Act  IV.  Sc.  3. 

A  universe  of  death,  which  God  by  curse 
Created  evil,  for  evil  only  good, 
Where  all  life  dies,  death  lives,  and  Nature  breeds, 
Perverse,  all  monstrous,  all  prodigious  things. 

MILTON,  Paradise  Lost,  Book  II.  622-625. 

Onward!  onward! 

With  the  night-wind, 

Over  field  and  farm  and  forest, 

Lonely  homestead,  darksome  hamlet, 

Blighting  all  we  breathe  upon ! 

LONGFELLOW,  Golden  Legend. 


TOL.  vi.  —  8 


Instrument!  genns  vocale,  et  semivocale,  et  mutum:  vocale,  in  quo  sunt 
tervi;  semivocale,  in  quo  sunt  boves;  mutum,  in  quo  sunt  plaustra. — 
VARKO,  De  Re  Jtustica,  Lib.  I.  cap.  xvii.  §  1. 


Nil  metuunt  jurare,  nihil  promittere  parcunt; 
Dicta  nihil  metuere,  nihil  perjuria  curant. 

CATULLUS,  Carm.  LXIV.  146, 148. 


Pone  crucem  servo.  —  Meruit  quo  crimine  servus 
Supplicium?  quis  testis  adest?  quis  detulit?     Audi: 
Nulla  unquam  de  morte  hominis  cunctatio  longa  est. — 
O  demons,  ita  servus  homo  est?     Nil  fecerit,  esto  : 
Hoc  volo,  sic  jubeo,  sit  pro  ratione  voluntas. 

JUVENAL,  Sat.  VI.  219-223. 


There  is  a  tradition  of  the  Prophet  having  said,  that  the  greatest  morti- 
fication at  the  Day  of  Judgment  will  be  when  the  pious  slave  is  carried  to 
Paradise  and  the  wicked  master  condemned  to  Hell.  —  SAADI,  The  Gulutan, 
tr.  Gladwin,  p.  242. 

"  And  the  Black  Oppressor  am  I  called.  And  for  this  reason  I  am  called 
the  Black  Oppressor,  that  there  is  not  a  single  man  around  me  whom  I  have 
not  oppressed,  and  justice  have  I  done  unto  none."  .  .  .  .  "  Since  thon 
hast,  indeed,  been  an  oppressor  so  long,"  said  Peredur,  "  I  will  cause  that 
thon  continue  so  no  longer."  So  he  slew  him.  —  The  Mabinogion,  tr.  Lady 
Chailotte  Guest,  Vol.  I.  pp.  341,  342. 

After  we  had  secured  these  people,  I  called  the  linguists,  and  ordered 
them  to  bid  the  men-negroes  between  decks  be  quiet  (for  there  was  a 
great  noise  amongst  them).  On  their  being  silent,  I  asked,  What  had 
induced  them  to  mutiny  ?  They  answered,  /  was  a  great  rogue  to  buy  them 
in  order  to  carry  them  away  from  their  own  country,  and  that  they  were 
resolved  to  regain  their  liberty,  if  possible.  —  SNELGRAVK,  New  Account 
of  some  Parti  of  Guinea  and  the  Slave-  Trade,  p.  170. 

A  system  of  concubinage  was  practised  among  them  worse  than  the  loose 
polygamy  of  the  savages :  the  savage  had  as  many  women  as  consented  to 
become  his  wives ;  the  colonist  as  many  as  he  could  enslave.  There  is  an 
ineffaceable  stigma  upon  the  Europeans  in  their  intercourse  with  those  whom 
they  treat  as  inferior  races ;  there  is  a  perpetual  contradiction  between  their 
lust  and  their  avarice.  The  planter  will  one  day  take  a  slave  for  his  harlot, 
and  sell  her  the  next  as  a  being  of  some  lower  species,  a  beast  of  labor. 
If  she  be  indeed  an  inferior  animal,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  one  action? 
If  she  be  equally  with  himself  a  human  being  and  an  immortal  soul, 
what  shall  be  said  of  the  other?  Either  way  there  is  a  crime  committed 
against  human  nature.  —  SOUTHEY,  History  of  Brazil,  Chap.  VIII.,  VoL  I. 
p.  258. 

Negro  slavery  exists  in  no  part  of  the  world  without  producing  indolence, 
licentiousness,  and  inhumanity  in  the  whites;  and  these  vices  draw  after 
them  their  earthly  punishment,  —  to  look  no  farther  into  their  fearful,  but 
assured  consequences.  —  IBID.,  Chap.  XLIV.,  Vol.  III.  p.  816. 

I  had  observed  much,  and  heard  more,  of  the  cruelty  of  masters  towards 
their  negroes;  but  now  I  received  an  authentic  account  of  some  horrid 
instances  thereof.  The  giving  a  child  a  slave  of  its  own  age  to  tyrannize 
over,  to  beat  and  abuse  out  of  sport,  was,  I  myself  saw,  a  common  prac- 
tice. Nor  is  it  strange,  being  thus  trained  up  in  cruelty,  they  should  after- 


116          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

•wards  arrive  at  so  great  perfection  in  it ;  that  Mr.  Star,  a  gentleman  I 
often  met  at  Mr.  Lasserre's,  should,  as  he  himself  informed  L.,  first  nail  up 
a  negro  by  the  ears,  then  order  him  to  be  whipped  in  the  severest  man- 
ner, and  then  to  have  scalding  water  thrown  over  him,  so  that  the  poor 
creature  could  not  stir  for  four  months  after.  Another  much  applauded 
punishment  is  drawing  their  slaves'  teeth.  One  Colonel  LYNCH  is  uni- 
versally known  to  have  cut  off  a  poor  negro's  legs,  and  to  kill  several  of 
them  every  year  by  his  barbarities.  —  REV.  CHARLES  WESLKY,  Journal, 
Charleston,  S.  C  ,  August  2,  1736. 

You  are  to  have  no  regard  to  the  health,  strength,  comfort,  natural  affec- 
tions, or  moral  feelings,  or  intellectual  endowments  of  my  negroes.  You 
are  only  to  consider  what  subsistence  to  allow  them  and  what  labor  to  ex- 
act of  them  will  subserve  my  interest.  According  to  the  most  accurate 
calculation  I  can  make,  the  proportion  of  subsistence  and  labor  which  will 
work  them  up  in  six  years  upon  an  average  is  the  most  profitable  to  the 
planter.  And  this  allowance,  surely,  is  very  humane ;  for  we  estimate  here 
the  lives  of  our  coal-heavers,  upon  an  average,  at  only  two  years,  ....  and 
our  soldiers  and  seamen  no  matter  what.  —  A  Weft-India  Planter's  Instruc- 
tions for  his  Overseers:  JOHN  ADAMS,  Works,  Vol.  X.  pp.  339,  340. 

The  unfortunate  man  would  have  been  tried  upon  five  other  indictments, 
some  of  them  still  more  atrocious  than  the  one  upon  which  he  was  found 
guilty;  and  his  general  character  for  barbarity  was  so  notorious  that  no 
room  was  left  for  me  even  to  deliberate.  His  victims  have  been  numerous; 
some  of  them  were  even  buried  in  their  chains,  and  there  have  been  found 
upon  the  bones  taken  from  the  grave  chains  and  iron  rings  of  near  forty 

pounds'  weight He  had  been  three  times  married,  has  left  several 

children;  he  had  been  in  the  Army,  had  a  liberal  education,  and  lived  in 
what  is  called  the  great  world.  His  manners  and  address  were  those  of 
a  gentleman.  Cruelty  appears  in  him  to  have  been  the  effect  of  violence 
of  temper,  and  habit  had  made  him  regardless  of  the  death  and  suffering,  of 
a  slave. —  RIGHT  HON.  HUGH  ELLIOT,  Governor  of  the  Leeward  Islands: 
Memoir,  by  the  COUNTESS  OF  MINTO,  pp.  409,  410. 

Is  slavery  less  slavery  in  a  Christian  than  in  a  Mahometan  country  ?  I 
entreat  your  attention,  while  I  plead  the  general  cause  of  humanity.  In 
such  a  cause  it  is  right  to  appeal  to  your  sensibility  as  well  as  your  reason. 
It  is  now  no  longer  time  to  flatter  petty  tyrants  by  acknowledging  that  color 
constitutes  a  legitimate  title  for  holding  men  in  abject  and  perpetual  bond- 
age. In  support  of  this  usurpation  what  can  be  urged  but  the  law  of  the 
strongest? — COL.  DAVID  HUMPHREYS,  Valedictory  Discourse  before  the 
Cincinnati  of  Connecticut,  July  4,  1804,  p.  29. 

Christianity  suppressed  slavery,  but  the  Christians  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury reestablished  it,  —  as  an  exception,  indeed,  to  their  social  system,  and 
restricted  to  one  of  the  races  of  mankind;  but  the  wound  thus  inflicted 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         117 

•upon  humanity,  though  less  extensive,  was  far  more  difficult  of  cure.  — 
TOCQUEVILLE,  Democracy  in  America,  ed.  Bowen,  Chap.  XVIII.  sec.  2, 
Vol.  I.  p.  467. 

The  Kentuckian  delights  in  violent  bodily  exertion;  he  is  familiar  with 
the  use  of  arms,  and  is  accustomed  from  a  very  early  age  to  expose  his  life 

in  single  combat Were  I  inclined  to  continue  this  parallel,  I  could 

easily  prove  that  almost  all  the  differences  which  may  be  remarked  be- 
tween the  characters  of  the  Americans  in  the  Southern  and  in  the  North- 
ern States  have  originated  in  Slavery.  —  IBID.,  pp.  467,  468. 

I  visited  our  State  Penitentiary  a  short  time  since,  and  from  my  own  per- 
sonal observation  I  am  led  to  the  inevitable  conclusion  that  the  plan  of  send- 
ing our  slaves  to  the  Penitentiary,  as  a  punishment  for  crime,  is  exactly 
the  reverse :  it  is  rather  a  reward  than  punishment  "  Let  sober  reason 
judge." 

We  punish  offenders  to  prevent  crime.  I  would  ask  any  reasonable  man, 
Is  the  sending  a  slave  of  any  ot  our  farms  to  the  Penitentiary  a  punish- 
ment ?  The  white  man  is  punished  by  being  deprived  of  his  liberty  for  that 
length  of  time  :  what  liberty  is  the  slave  deprived  of  ?  He  has  as  much, 
and  oftentimes  more,  liberty  within  the  walls  of  the  Penitentiary  than  on 
any  of  those  large  sugar  or  cotton  plantations.  Then  where  is  the  punish- 
ment ?  We  send  white  men  there,  and  the  dread  of  going  is  a  ttain  on  his 
character  :  what  character  has  the  negro  to  lose  ?  Hence  we  must  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  sending  negro  slaves  to  the  Penitentiary  is  not  a  pun- 
ishment. 

A  moment's  reflection  will  convince  any  man  who  has  ever  had  the  man- 
agement of  negroes  on  a  plantation,  that  the  well-being  and  safety  of  soci- 
eties demand  that  any  offence  committed  by  a  negro,  for  which  the  lath  is 
not  a  sufficient  punishment,  death  should  be  the  penalty. 

Taking  these  things  into  consideration,  would  it  not  be  just  and  laudable 
to  sell  all  negroes  now  in  the  Penitentiary  to  the  highest  bidder,  on  or  about 
the  first  of  November  next,  by  the  Sheriff  of  the  Parish  of  East  Baton  Rouge, 
on  the  same  terms  and  conditions  that  negroes  are  sold  at  present,  under  an 
ordinary  fi.  fa.,  and,  as  near  as  can  be,  two  thirds  of  the  net  proceeds  of 
each  negro  be  paid  to  the  former  owners  or  their  legal  representatives,  the 
balance  be  and  remain  in  the  State  Treasury  for  ordinary  purposes  ?  — 
Weekly  Advocate,  Baton  Rouge,  La.,  Jan.  17, 1868. 


A  VERY  large  edition  of  this  speech  was  printed  at  Washington, 
immediately  after  its  delivery.  Another  appeared  at  Boston,  with  a 
portrait ;  and  another  at  San  Francisco,  with  the  Republican  Platform. 
While  the  Rebellion  was  still  warring  on  the  National  Government,  an 
edition  was  brought  out  in  New  York  by  the  "Young  Men's  Re- 
publican Union,"  to  which  Mr.  Sumner  prefixed  a  Dedication  to  the 
Young  Men  of  the  United  States,  which  will  be  found  in  its  proper 
place,  according  to  date,  in  this  collection. 

A  letter  from  that  devoted  friend  of  the  Slave,  the  late  George  L. 
Stearns,  of  Boston,  under  date  of  March  1st,  1860,  shows  something  of 
the  outside  prompting  under  which  Mr.  Sumner  spoke. 

"  I  have  just  read 's  speech.     He  stands  up  to  the  mark  well,  for  a 

politician;  but  we  want  one  who  believes  a  Man  is  greater  than  a  President, 
and  who  would  not  lift  his  finger  to  obtain  the  best  office  in  the  gift  of  our 
nation,  to  raise  this  question  above  the  political  slough  into  its  true  position. 
Charles  0' Conor,  in  his  late  speech  in  New  York,  affirmed,  that,  '  if  Slavery 
were  not  a  wise  and  beneficent  institution  for  the  black  as  well  as  the 
white,  it  could  not  be  defended.'  We  want  you  to  take  up  the  gauntlet 
that  he  has  thrown  down  so  defiantly." 

A  letter  from  William  H.  Brooks,  of  Cambridgeport,  unconsciously 
harmonized  with  Mr.  Stearns. 

"  Feeling  that  our  nation  is  now  in  the  very  throes  of  her  deliverance,  and 
I  trust  her  prompt  deliverance,  from  bondage  to  her,  not  Thirty,  but  Three 
Hundred  Thousand  Tyrants,  may  I  frankly  say,  that,  if  not  inconsistent 
with  your  health  and  safety,  which  are  on  no  consideration  to  be  perilled, 
you  could  aid  more  than  any  single  person,  or  score  of  them,  in  effectually 

accomplishing  the  great  triumph The  unseen  forces  of  public  opinion 

are  gathering  and  forming  for  the  great  November  conflict  Your  long,  en- 
forced, and  martyr  silence  will  give  a  depth  of  impression  and  moving 
power  and  ten  thousand  echoes  to  your  words  beyond  their  accustomed 
might." 

Something  about  the  menace  of  violence  after  this  speech,  with  illus- 
trations of  its  reception  at  the  time,  is  postponed  to  an  Appendix. 

Kansas  was  not  admitted  as  a  State  into  the  Union  until  January  29, 
1861,  after  the  slaveholding  Senators  had  withdrawn  to  organize  the 
Rebellion,  when  the  bill  on  which  the  present  speech  was  made  became 
a  law. 


SPEECH. 


ME.  PRESIDENT,  — Undertaking  now,  after  a  si- 
lence of  more  than  four  years,  to  address  the 
Senate  on  this  important  subject,  I  should  suppress  the 
emotions  natural  to  such  an  occasion,  if  I  did  not  de- 
clare on  the  threshold  my  gratitude  to  that  Supreme 
Being  through  whose  benign  care  I  am  enabled,  after 
much  suffering  and  many  changes,  once  again  to  resume 
my  duties  here,  and  to  speak  for  the  cause  so  near  my 
heart  To  the  honored  Commonwealth  whose  repre- 
sentative I  am,  and  also  to  my  immediate  associates  in 
this  body,  with  whom  I  enjoy  the  fellowship  which  is 
found  in  thinking  alike  concerning  the  Republic,1  I  owe 
thanks  which  I  seize  the  moment  to  express  for  indul- 
gence extended  to  me  throughout  the  protracted  seclu- 
sion enjoined  by  medical  skill ;  and  I  trust  that  it  will 
not  be  thought  unbecoming  in  me  to  put  on  record  here, 
as  an  apology  for  leaving  my  seat  so  long  vacant,  with- 
out making  way,  by  resignation,  for  a  successor,  that 
I  acted  under  the  illusion  of  an  invalid,  whose  hopes 
for  restoration  to  natural  health  continued  against  oft- 
recurring  disappointment. 

When  last  I  entered  into  this  debate,  it  became  my 
.duty  to  expose  the  Crime  against  Kansas,  and  to  insist 

1  "Eadem  de  Republica  sensisse."  —  Cic.,  Orat.  in  Pisonem,  c.  32. 


120  THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

upon  the  immediate  admission  of  that  Territory  as  a 
State  of  this  Union,  with  a  Constitution  forbidding 
Slavery.  Time  has  passed,  but  the  question  remains. 
Resuming  the  discussion  precisely  where  I  left  it,  I  am 
happy  to  avow  that  rule  of  moderation  which,  it  is  said,, 
may  venture  to  fix  the  boundaries  of  wisdom  itself.  I 
have  no  personal  griefs  to  utter :  only  a  vulgar  egotism 
could  intrude  such  into  this  Chamber.  I  have  no  per- 
sonal wrongs  to  avenge :  only  a  brutish  nature  could 
attempt  to  wield  that  vengeance  which  belongs  to  the 
Lord.  The  years  that  have  intervened  and  the  tombs 
that  have  opened1  since  I  spoke  have  their  voices, 
too,  which  I  cannot  fail  to  hear.  Besides,  what  am  I, 
what  is  any  man  among  the  living  or  among  the  dead, 
compared  with  the  question  before  us  ?  It  is  this 
alone  which  I  shall  discuss,  and  I  begin  the  argument 
with  that  easy  victory  which  is  found  in  charity. 

The  Crime  against  Kansas  stands  forth  in  painful 
light.  Search  history,  and  you  cannot  find  its  parallel. 
The  slave-trade  is  bad  ;  but  even  this  enormity  is  petty, 
compared  with  that  elaborate  contrivance  by  which,  in  a 
Christian  age  and  within  the  limits  of  a  Republic,  all 
forms  of  constitutional  liberty  were  perverted,  all  the 
rights  of  human  nature  violated,  and  the  whole  country 
held  trembling  on  the  edge  of  civil  war,  —  while  all  this 
large  exuberance  of  wickedness,  detestable  in  itself,  be- 
comes tenfold  more  detestable,  when  its  origin  is  traced 
to  the  madness  for  Slavery.  The  fatal  partition  between 
Freedom  and  Slavery,  known  as  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, —  the  subsequent  overthrow  of  this  partition,  and 
the  seizure  of  all  by  Slavery,  —  the  violation  of  plighted 

1  Mr.  Brooks  and  Senator  Butler  were  both  dead. 


THE  BARBAEISM  OF  SLAVERY.         121 

faith,  —  the  conspiracy  to  force  Slavery  at  all  hazards 
into  Kansas,  —  the  successive  invasions  by  which  all 
security  there  was  destroyed,  and  the  electoral  franchise 
itself  was  trodden  down,  —  the  sacrilegious  seizure  of  the 
very  polls,  and,  through  pretended  forms  of  law,  the  im- 
position of  a  foreign  legislature  upon  this  Territory, —  the 
acts  of  this  legislature,  fortifying  the  Usurpation,  and, 
among  other  things,  establishing  test-oaths,  calculated 
to  disfranchise  actual  settlers  friendly  to  Freedom,  and 
securing  the  privileges  of  the  citizen  to  actual  strangers 
friendly  to  Slavery,  —  the  whole  crowned  by  a  statute, 
"the  be-all  and  the  end-all"  of  the  whole  Usurpation, 
through  which  Slavery  was  not  only  recognized  on  this 
beautiful  soil,  but  made  to  bristle  with  a  Code  of  Death 
such  as  the  world  has  rarely  seen,  —  all  these  I  fully 
exposed  on  a  former  occasion.  And  yet  the  most  im- 
portant part  of  the  argument  was  at  that  time  left  un- 
touched :  I  mean  that  found  in  the  Character  of  Slavery. 
This  natural  sequel,  with  the  permission  of  the  Senate, 
I  now  propose  to  supply. 

Motive  is  to  Crime  as  soul  to  body;  and  it  is  only 
when  we  comprehend  the  motive  that  we  can  truly 
comprehend  the  Crime.  Here  the  motive  is  found  in 
Slavery  and  the  rage  for  its  extension.  Therefore,  by 
logical  necessity,  must  Slavery  be  discussed,  —  not  indi- 
rectly, timidly,  and  sparingly,  but  directly,  openly,  and 
thoroughly.  It  must  be  exhibited  as  it  is,  alike  in  its 
influence  and  its  animating  character,  so  that  not  only 
outside,  but  inside,  may  be  seen. 

This  is  no  time  for  soft  words  or  excuses.  All  such 
are  out  of  place.  They  may  turn  away  wrath ;  but 
what  is  the  wrath  of  man  ?  This  is  no  time  to  aban- 
don any  advantage  in  the  argument.  Senators  some- 


122         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

times  announce  that  they  resist  Slavery  on  political 
grounds  only,  and  remind  us  that  they  say  nothing  of 
the  moral  question.  This  is  wrong.  Slavery  must  be 
resisted  not  only  on  political  grounds,  but  on  all  other 
grounds,  whether  social,  economical,  or  moral.  Ours  is 
no  holiday  contest ;  nor  is  it  any  strife  of  rival  factions, 
of  White  and  Red  Roses,  of  theatric  Neri  and  Bianchi ; 
but  it  is  a  solemn  battle  between  Right  and  Wrong, 
between  Good  and  Evil.  Such  a  battle  cannot  be 
fought  with  rosewater.  There  is  austere  work  to  be 
done,  and  Freedom  cannot  consent  to  fling  away  any 
of  her  weapons. 

If  I  were  disposed  to  shrink  from  this  discussion,  the 
boundless  assumptions  made  by  Senators  on  the  other 
side  would  not  allow  me.  The  whole  character  of  Sla- 
very, as  a  pretended  form  of  Civilization,  is  put  direct- 
ly in  issue,  with  a  pertinacity  and  a  hardihood  which 
banish  all  reserve  on  this  side.  In  these  assumptions 
Senators  from  South  Carolina  naturally  take  the  lead. 
Following  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  pronounced  Slavery  "the 
most  solid  and  durable  foundation  on  which  to  rear  free 
and  stable  political  institutions,"  1  and  Mr.  McDuffie, 
who  did  not  shrink  from  calling  it  "the  corner-stone 
of  our  republican  edifice,"2  the  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  [Mr.  HAMMOND]  insists- that  its  "frame  of 
society  is  the  best  in  the  world  " 3 ;  and  his  colleague 
[Mr.  CHESNUT]  takes  up  the  strain.  One  Senator  from 
Mississippi  [Mr.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS],  adds,  that  Slavery 

1  Speech  in  the  Senate,  February  6,  1837:  Works,  Vol.  II.  p.  632.     See 
Miscellaneous  Writings  on  Slavery,  by  William  Jay,  p.  609. 

2  Message  to  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  November,  1835. 

'  Speech  in  the  Senate,  March  4,  1858:  Congressional  Globe,  36th  Cong. 
1st  Sess.,  p.  961. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         123 

"is  but  a  form  of  civil  government  for  those  who  by 
their  nature  are  not  fit  to  govern  themselves"  j1  and  his 
colleague  [  Mr.  BROWN]  openly  vaunts  that  it "  is  a  great 
moral,  social,  and  political  blessing,  —  a  blessing  to  the 
slave,  anc!  a  blessing  to  the  master."  2  One  Senator  from 
Virginia  [  Mr.  HUNTER],  in  a  studied  vindication  of  what 
he  is  pleased  to  call  "  the  social  system  of  the  South," 
exalts  Slavery  as  "  the  normal  condition  of  human  so- 
ciety," "  beneficial  to  the  non-slave-owner  as  it  is  to  the 
slave-owner,"  "  best  for  the  happiness  of  both  races,"  — 
and,  in  enthusiastic  advocacy,  declares,  "  that  the  very 
keystone  of  the  mighty  arch,  which,  by  its  concentrated 
strength,  and  by  the  mutual  support  of  its  parts,  is  able 
to  sustain  our  social  superstructure,  consists  in  the  black 
marble  block  of  African  Slavery :  knock  that  out,  and 
the  mighty  fabric,  with  all  that  it  upholds,  topples  and 
tumbles  to  its  fall."  3  These  are  his  very  words,  uttered 
in  debate  here.  And  his  colleague  [Mr.  MASON],  who 
never  hesitates  where  Slavery  is  in  question,  proclaims 
that  it  is  "ennobling  to  both  races,  the  white  and  the 
black,"  — a  word  which,  so  far  as  the  slave  is  concerned, 
he  changes,  on  a  subsequent  day,  to  "  elevating,"  assum- 
ing still  that  it  is  "  ennobling  "  to  the  whites,4  —  which 
is  simply  a  new  version  of  the  old  assumption,  by  Mr. 
McDume,  of  South  Carolina,  that  "the  institution  of 
Domestic  Slavery  supersedes  the  necessity  of  an  order 
of  nobility."  6 

1  Speech  in  the  Senate,  February  29,  1860:  Congressional  Globe,  86th 
Cong.  1st  Sess.,  p.  917. 

3  Speech  in  the  Senate,  March  6, 1860 :  Congressional  Globe,  86th  Cong. 
1st  Sess.,  p.  1004. 

*  Speech  in  the  Senate,  January  81,  1860:   Congressional  Globe,  36th 
Cong.  1st  Sess.,  Appendix,  pp.  104-109. 

4  Congressional  Globe,  86th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  pp.  667,  696:  January  23,  26, 
I860. 

6  Message  to  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  November,  1836. 


124  THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY. 

Thus,  by  various  voices,  is  Slavery  defiantly  pro- 
claimed a  form  of  Civilization,  —  not  seeing  that  its 
existence  is  plainly  inconsistent  with  the  first  princi- 
ples of  anything  that  can  be  called  Civilization,  except 
by  that  figure  of  speech  in  classical  literature  where  a 
thing  takes  its  name  from  something  which  it  has  not, 
as  the  dreadful  Fates  were  called  merciful  because  they 
were  without  mercy.  Pardon  the  allusion,  if  I  add, 
that,  listening  to  these  sounding  words  for  Slavery,  I 
am  reminded  of  the  kindred  extravagance  related  by 
that  remarkable  traveller  in  China,  the  late  Abbe  Hue, 
where  a  gloomy  hole  in  which  he  was  lodged,  infested 
by  mosquitoes  and  exhaling  noisome  vapors,  with  light 
and  air  entering  by  a  single  narrow  aperture  only,  was 
styled  by  Chinese  pride  "  The  Hotel  of  the  Beatitudes." 
According  to  a  Hindoo  proverb,  the  snail  sees  nothing 
but  its  own  shell,  and  thinks  it  the  grandest  palace  in 
the  universe.  This  is  another  illustration  of  the  de- 
lusion which  we  are  called  to  witness. 

It  is  natural  that  Senators  thus  insensible  to  the 
true  character  of  Slavery  should  evince  an  equal  in- 
sensibility to  the  true  character  of  the  Constitution. 
This  is  shown  in  the  claim  now  made,  and  pressed  with 
unprecedented  energy,  degrading  the  work  of  our  fa- 
thers, that  by  virtue  of  the  Constitution  the  pretended 
property  in  man  is  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  Con- 
gressional prohibition  even  within  Congressional  juris- 
diction, so  that  the  slave-master  may  at  all  times  enter 
the  broad  outlying  territories  of  the  Union  with  the 
victims  of  his  oppression,  and  there  continue  to  hold 
them  by  lash  and  chain. 

Such  are  two  assumptions,  the  first  of  fact,  and  the 
second  of  Constitutional  Law,  now  vaunted  without 


THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY. 

apology  or  hesitation.  I  meet  them  both.  To  the 
first  I  oppose  the  essential  Barbarism  of  Slavery,  in  all 
its  influences,  whether  high  or  low,  —  as  Satan  is  Satan 
still,  whether  towering  in  the  sky  or  squatting  in  the 
toad.  To  the  second  I  oppose  the  unanswerable,  ir- 
resistible truth,  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  nowhere  recognizes  property  in  man.  These  two 
assumptions  naturally  go  together.  They  are  "  twins  " 
suckled  by  the  same  wolf.  They  are  the  "  couple  "  in 
the  present  slave-hunt.  And  the  latter  cannot  be  an- 
swered without  exposing  the  former.  It  is  only  when 
Slavery  is  exhibited  in  its  truly  hateful  character  that 
we  fully  appreciate  the  absurdity  of  the  assumption, 
which,  in  defiance  of  express  letter  in  the  Constitution, 
and  without  a  single  sentence,  phrase,  or  word  uphold- 
ing human  bondage,  yet  foists  into  this  blameless  text 
the  barbarous  idea  that  man  can  hold  property  in  man. 

On  former  occasions  I  have  discussed  Slavery  only 
incidentally  :  as,  in  unfolding  the  principle  that  Slavery 
is  Sectional  and  Freedom  National;  in  exposing  the 
unconstitutionality  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill ;  in  vin- 
dicating the  Prohibition  of  Slavery  in  the  Missouri 
Territory ;  in  exhibiting  the  imbecility,  throughout  the 
Revolution,  of  the  Slave  States,  and  especially  of  South 
Carolina ;  and,  lastly,  in  unmasking  the  Crime  against 
Kansas.  On  all  these  occasions,  where  I  spoke  at 
length,  I  said  too  little  of  the  character  of  Slavery, — 
partly  because  other  topics  were  presented,  and  partly 
from  a  prevailing  disinclination  to  press  the  argument 
against  those  whom  I  knew  to  have  all  the  sensitive- 
ness of  a  sick  man.  But,  God  be  praised,  this  time 
has  passed,  and  the  debate  is  now  lifted  from  details 
to  principles.  Grander  debate  has  not  occurred  in  our 


126          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

history,  —  rarely  in  any  history;  nor  can  it  close  or 
subside,  except  with  the  triumph  of  Freedom. 

FIRST  ASSUMPTION. 

OF  course  I  begin  with  the  assumption  of  fact,  which 
must  be  treated  at  length. 

It  was  the  often-quoted  remark  of  John  Wesley,  who 
knew  well  how  to  use  words,  as  also  how  to  touch 
hearts,  that  Slavery  is  "  the  sum  of  all  villanies."  The 
phrase  is  pungent;  but  it  were  rash  in  any  of  us  to 
criticise  the  testimony  of  that  illustrious  founder  of 
Methodism,  whose  ample  experience  of  Slavery  in 
Georgia  and  the  Carolinas  seems  to  have  been  all  con- 
densed in  this  sententious  judgment.  Language  is 
feeble  to  express  all  the  enormity  of  an  institution 
which  is  now  exalted  as  in  itself  a  form  of  civilization, 
"  ennobling  "  at  least  to  the  master,  if  not  to  the  slave. 
Look  at  it  as  you  will,  and  it  is  always  the  scab,  the 
canker,  the  "  barebones,"  and  the  shame  of  the  coun- 
try,—  wrong,  not  merely  in  the  abstract,  as  is  often 
admitted  by  its  apologist,  but  wrong  in  the  concrete 
also,  and  possessing  no  single  element  of  right.  Look 
at  it  in  the  light  of  principle,  and  it  is  nothing  less 
than  a  huge  insurrection  against  the  eternal  law  of 
God,  involving  in  its  pretensions  the  denial  of  all  hu- 
man rights,  and  also  the  denial  of  that  Divine  Law  in 
which  God  himself  is  manifest,  thus  being  practically 
the  grossest  lie  and  the  grossest  atheism.  Founded  in 
violence,  sustained  only  by  violence,  such  a  wrong  must 
by  sure  law  of  compensation  blast  master  as  well  as 
slave,  —  blast  the  lands  on  which  they  live,  blast  the 
community  of  which  they  are  part,  blast  the  govern- 


THE   BARBAEISM   OF   SLAVERY.  127 

ment  which  does  not  forbid  the  outrage ;  and  the  longer 
it  exists  and  the  more  completely  it  prevails,  must  its 
vengeful  influences  penetrate  the  whole  social  system. 
Barbarous  in  origin,  barbarous  in  law,  barbarous  in 
all  its  pretensions,  barbarous  in  the  instruments  it 
employs,  barbarous  in  consequences,  barbarous  in  spirit, 
barbarous  wherever  it  shows  itself,  Slavery  must  breed 
Barbarians,  while  it  develops  everywhere,  alike  in  the 
individual  and  the  society  to  which  he  belongs,  the 
essential  elements  of  Barbarism.  In  this  character  it  is 
conspicuous  before  the  world. 

Undertaking  now  to  expose  the  BARBARISM  OF  SLAV- 
ERY, the  whole  broad  field  is  open  before  me.  There  is 
nothing  in  its  character,  its  manifold  wrong,  its  wretch- 
ed results,  and  especially  in  its  influence  on  the  class 
claiming  to  be  "ennobled"  by  it,  that  will  not  fall 
naturally  under  consideration. 

I  know  well  the  difficulty  of  this  discussion,  involved 
in  the  humiliating  truth  with  which  I  begin.  Sena- 
tors, on  former  occasions,  revealing  their  sensitiveness, 
have  even  protested  against  comparison  between  what 
were  called  "  two  civilizations,"  —  meaning  the  two 
social  systems  produced  respectively  by  Freedom  and 
Slavery.  The  sensibility  and  the  protest  are  not  un- 
natural, though  mistaken.  "  Two  civilizations  ! "  Sir, 
in  this  nineteenth  century  of  Christian  light  there  can 
be  but  one  Civilization,  and  this  is  where  Freedom 
prevails.  Between  Slavery  and  Civilization  there  is 
essential  incompatibility.  If  you  are  for  the  one,  you 
cannot  be  for  the  other ;  and  just  in  proportion  to  the 
embrace  of  Slavery  is  the  divorce  from  Civilization. 
As  cold  is  but  the  absence  of  heat,  and  darkness  but 
the  absence  of  light,  so  is  Slavery  but  the  absence  of 


128         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

justice  and  humanity,  without  which  Civilization  is  im- 
possible. That  slave-masters  should  be  disturbed,  when 
this  is  exposed,  might  be  expected.  But  the  assump- 
tions so  boastfully  made,  while  they  may  not  prevent 
the  sensibility,  yet  surely  exclude  all  ground  of  protest, 
when  these  assumptions  are  exposed. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  difficulty.  Slavery  is  a  bloody 
Touch-Me-Not,  and  everywhere  in  sight  now  blooms  the 
bloody  flower.  It  is  on  the  wayside  as  we  approach 
the  National  Capitol;  it  is  on  the  marble  steps  which 
we  mount ;  it  flaunts  on  this  floor.  I  stand  now  in  the 
house  of  its  friends.  About  me,  while  I  speak,  are 
its  most  jealous  guardians,  who  have  shown  in  the  past 
how  much  they  are  ready  to  do  or  not  to  do,  where 
Slavery  is  in  question.  Menaces  to  deter  me  have 
not  been  spared.  But  I  should  ill  deserve  the  high 
post  of  duty  here,  with  which  I  am  honored  by  a 
generous  and  enlightened  people,  if  I  could  hesitate. 
Idolatry  has  been  exposed  in  the  presence  of  idolaters, 
and  hypocrisy  chastised  in  the  presence  of  Scribes  and 
Pharisees.  Such  examples  may  impart  encouragement 
to  a  Senator  undertaking  in  this  presence  to  expose 
Slavery;  nor  can  any  language,  directly  responsive  to 
Senatorial  assumptions  made  for  this  Barbarism,  be  open 
to  question.  Slavery  can  be  painted  only  in  sternest 
colors ;  nor  can  I  forget  that  Nature's  sternest  painter 
has  been  called  the  best. 

THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY  appears,  first,  in  the 
character  of  Slavery,  and,  secondly,  in  the  character  of 
Slave- Masters. 

Under  the  first  head  we  shall  properly  consider 
(1)  the  Law  of  Slavery  with  its  Origin,  and  (2)  the  prac- 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         129 

tical  results  of  Slavery,  as  shown  in  comparison  between 
the  Free  States  and  the  Slave  States. 

Under  the  second  head  we  shall  naturally  consider 

(1)  Slave-Masters   as   shown   in  the  Law  of  Slavery; 

(2)  Slave-Masters  in  their  relations  with  slaves,  here 
glancing  at  their  three  brutal  instruments;  (3)  Slave- 
Masters  in  their  relations  with  each  other,  with  society, 
and  with  Government;  and  (4)  Slave-Masters  in  their 
unconsciousness. 

The  way  will  then  be  prepared  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  assumption  of  Constitutional  Law. 


I. 
i 

IN  presenting  the  CHARACTER  OF  SLAVERY,  there 
is  little  for  me,  except  to  make  Slavery  paint  itself. 
When  this  is  done,  the  picture  will  need  no  explana- 
tory words. 

( 1.)  I  begin  with  the  Law  of  Slavery  and  its  Ori- 
gin ;  and  here  this  Barbarism  sketches  itself  in  its  own 
chosen  definition.  It  is  simply  this :  Man,  created  in 
the  image  of  God,  is  divested  of  the  human  character, 
and  declared  to  be  a  "  chattel,"  —  that  is,  a  beast,  a 
thing,  or  article  of  property.  That  this  statement  may 
not  seem  made  without  precise  authority,  I  quote  the 
statutes  of  three  different  States,  beginning  with  South 
Carolina,  whose  voice  for  Slavery  has  always  unerr- 
ing distinctiveness.  According  to  the  definition  sup- 
plied by  this  State,  slaves 

"shall  be  deemed,  held,  taken,  reputed,  and  adjudged  in 
law  to  be  chattels  personal  in  the  hands  of  their  owners 
and  possessors,  and  their  executors,  administrators,  and  as- 
VOL.  vi.  — 9 


130  THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY. 

signs,  to  all  intents,  constructions,  and  purposes  whatso- 
ever." l 

And  here  is  the  definition  supplied  by  the  Civil  Code 
of  Louisiana :  — 

"  A  slave  is  one  who  is  in  the  power  of  a  master  to  whom 
he  belongs.  The  master  may  sell  him,  dispose  of  his  person, 
his  industry,  and  his  labor.  He  can  do  nothing,  possess 
nothing,  nor  acquire  anything,  but  what  must  belong  to  his 
master."  2 

In  similar  spirit  the  law  of  Maryland  thus  indirectly 
defines  a  slave  as  an  article:  — 

"  In  case  the  personal  property  of  a  ward  shall  consist  of 
specific  articles,  such  as  slaves,  working  beasts,  animals  of  any 
kind, ....  the  court,  if  it  shall  deem  it  advantageous  for  the 
ward,  may  at  any  time  pass  an  order  for  the  sale  thereof."  8 

Not  to  occupy  time  unnecessarily,  I  present  a  sum- 
mary of  the  pretended  law  defining  Slavery  in  all  the 
Slave  States,  as  made  by  a  careful  writer,  Judge  Stroud, 
in  a  work  of  juridical  as  well  as  philanthropic  merit :  — 

"  The  cardinal  principle  of  Slavery  —  that  the  slave  is 
not  to  be  ranked  among  sentient  beings,  but  among  things, 
is  an  article  of  property,  a  chattel  personal  —  obtains  as 
undoubted  law  in  all  of  these  [Slave]  States."  * 

Out  of  this  definition,  as  from  a  solitary  germ,  which 
in  its  pettiness  might  be  crushed  by  the  hand,  towers 
our  Upas  Tree  and  all  its  gigantic  poison.  Study  it,  and 
you  will  comprehend  the  whole  monstrous  growth. 

Sir,  look  at  its  plain  import,  and  see  the  relation 
which  it  establishes.  The  slave  is  held  simply  for  tJie 

1  Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  VII.  p.  397,  Act  No.  670,  sec.  1. 

a  Civil  Code,  Art.  C5. 

8  Laws  of  Maryland,  Acts  of  1798,  Ch.  CI.  xii.  12. 

4  Stroud,  Law  relating  to  Slavery,  pp.  22,  23. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         131 

use  of  his  master,  to  whose  behests  his  life,  liberty,  and 
happiness  are  devoted,  and  by  whom  he  may  be  bar- 
tered, leased,  mortgaged,  bequeathed,  invoiced,  shipped 
as  cargo,  stored  as  goods,  sold  on  execution,  knocked  off 
at  public  auction,  and  even  staked  at  the  gaming-table 
on  the  hazard  of  a  card  or  a  die,  —  all  according  to  law. 
Nor  is  there  anything,  within  the  limit  of  life,  inflicted 
on  a  beast,  which  may  not  be  inflicted  on  the  slave. 
He  may  be  marked  like  a  hog,  branded  like  a  mule, 
yoked  like  an  ox,  hobbled  like  a  horse,  driven  like  an 
ass,  sheared  like  a  sheep,  maimed  like  a  cur,  and  con- 
stantly beaten  like  a  brute, — all  according  to  law.  And 
should  life  itself  be  taken,  what  is  the  remedy  ?  The 
Law  of  Slavery,  imitating  that  rule  of  evidence  which 
in  barbarous  days  and  barbarous  countries  prevented 
the  Christian  from  testifying  against  the  Mahometan, 
openly  pronounces  the  incompetency  of  the  whole  Afri- 
can race,  whether  bond  or  free,  to  testify  against  a 
white  man  in  any  case,  and  thus,  after  surrendering  the 
slave  to  all  possible  outrage,  crowns  its  tyranny  by 
excluding  the  very  testimony  through  which  the  bloody 
cruelty  of  the  Slave-Master  might  be  exposed. 

Thus  in  its  Law  does  Slavery  paint  itself;  but  it  is 
only  when  we  look  at  details,  and  detect  its  essential 
elements,  Jive  in  number,  all  inspired  by  a  single  motive, 
that  its  character  becomes  completely  manifest. 

Foremost,  of  course,  in  these  elements,  is  the  impossi- 
ble pretension,  where  Barbarism  is  lost  in  impiety,  by 
which  man  claims  property  in  man.  Against  such  blas- 
phemy the  argument  is  brief.  According  to  the  Law  of 
Nature,  written  by  the  same  hand  that  placed  the  plan- 
ets in  their  orbits,  and,  like  them,  constituting  part  of 
the  eternal  system  of  the  Universe,  every  human  being 


132         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

has  complete  title  to  himself  direct  from  the  Almighty. 
Naked  he  is  born;  but  this  birthright  is  inseparable 
from  the  human  form.  A  man  may  be  poor  in  this 
world's  goods;  but  he  owns  himself.  No  war  or  rob- 
bery, ancient  or  recent,  —  no  capture  —  no  middle  pass- 
age,—  no  change  of  clime,  —  no  purchase-money,  —  no 
transmission  from  hand  to  hand,  no  matter  how  many 
times,  and  no  matter  at  what  price,  can  defeat  this  inde- 
feasible, God-given  franchise.  And  a  divine  mandate, 
strong  as  that  which  guards  Life,  guards  Liberty  also. 
Even  at  the  very  morning  of  Creation,  when  God  said, 
"Let  there  be  Light,"  —  earlier  than  the  malediction 
against  murder,  —  he  set  the  everlasting  difference  be- 
tween man  and  chattel,  giving  to  man  "  dominion  over 
the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and 
over  every  living  thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth." 

"  That  right  we  hold 
By  his  donation ;  but  man  over  men 
He  made  not  lord :  such  title  to  himself 
Reserving,  human  left  from  human  free."  * 

Slavery  tyrannically  assumes  power  which  Heaven 
denied,  —  while,  under  its  barbarous  necromancy,  bor- 
rowed from  the  Source  of  Evil,  a  man  is  changed  into 
a  chattel,  a  person  is  withered  into  a  thing,  a  soul  is 
shrunk  into  merchandise.  Say,  Sir,  in  lofty  madness, 
that  you  own  the  sun,  the  stars,  the  moon ;  but  do  not 
say  that  you  own  a  man,  endowed  with  soul  to  live 
immortal,  when  sun  and  moon  and  stars  have  passed 
away. 

Secondly.  Slavery  paints  itself  again  in  its  complete 
abrogation  of  marriage,  recognized  as  a  sacrament  by 
the  Church,  and  as  a  contract  by  the  civil  power,  wher- 

1  Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  Book  XII.,  68-71. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         133 

ever  civilization  prevails.  Under  the  Law  of  Slavery  no 
such  sacrament  is  respected,  and  no  such  contract  can 
exist.  The  ties  formed  between  slaves  are  all  subject 
to  the  selfish  interests  or  more  selfish  lust  of  the  mas- 
ter, whose  license  knows  no  check.  Natural  affections 
which  have  come  together  are  rudely  torn  asunder: 
nor  is  this  all.  Stripped  of  every  defence,  the  chastity 
of  a  whole  race  is  exposed  to  violence,  while  the  result 
is  recorded  in  tell-tale  faces  of  children,  glowing  with 
a  master's  blood,  but  doomed  for  their  mother's  skin 
to  Slavery  through  descending  generations.  The  Sena- 
tor from  Mississippi  [Mr.  BROWN],  galled  by  the  com- 
.parison  between  Slavery  and  Polygamy,  winces.  I 
hail  this  sensibility  as  the  sign  of  virtue.  Let  him 
reflect,  and  he  will  confess  that  there  are  many  dis- 
gusting elements  in  Slavery,  not  present  in  Polygamy, 
while  the  single  disgusting  element  of  Polygamy  is. 
more  than  present  in  Slavery.  By  license  of  Polyg- 
amy, one  man  may  have  many  wives,  all  bound  to 
him  by  marriage-tie,  and  in  other  respects  protected 
by  law.  By  license  of  Slavery,  a  whole  race  is  de- 
livered over  to  prostitution  and  concubinage,  without 
the  protection  of  any  law.  Surely,  Sir,  is  not  Slavery 
barbarous  ? 

Thirdly.  Slavery  paints  itself  again  in  its  complete 
abrogation  of  the  parental  relation,  provided  by  God  in 
his  benevolence  for  the  nurture  and  education  of  the 
human  family,  and  constituting  an  essential  part  of 
Civilization  itself.  And  yet  by  the  Law  of  Slavery  — 
happily  beginning  to  be  modified  in  some  places  —  this 
relation  is  set  at  nought,  and  in  its  place  is  substituted 
the  arbitrary  control  of  the  master,  at  whose  mere  com- 
mand little  children,  such  as  the  Saviour  called  unto 


134          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

him,  though  clasped  by  a  mother's  arms,  are  swept 
under  the  hammer  of  the  auctioneer.  I  do  not  dwell 
on  this  exhibition.  Sir,  is  not  Slavery  barbarous  ? 

Fourthly,  Slavery  paints  itself  again  in  dosing  the 
gates  of  knowledge,  which  are  also  the  shining  gates  of 
Civilization.  Under  its  plain,  unequivocal  law,  the  bond- 
man, at  the  unrestrained  will  of  his  master,  is  shut  out 
from  all  instruction  ;  while  in  many  places  —  incredible 
to  relate  —  the  law  itself,  by  cumulative  provisions, 
positively  forbids  that  he  shall  be  taught  to  read ! 
Of  course  the  slave  cannot  be  allowed  to  read :  for  his 
soul  would  then  expand  in  larger  air,  while  he  saw  the 
glory  of  the  North  Star,  and  also  the  helping  truth,  that 
God,  who  made  iron,  never  made  a  slave  ;  for  he  would 
then  become  familiar  with  the  Scriptures,  with  the  Dec- 
alogue still  speaking  in  the  thunders  of  Sinai,  —  with 
that  ancient  text,  "  He  that  stealeth  a  man  and  selleth 
him,  or  if  he  be  found  in  his  hand,  he  shall  surely  be 
put  to  death  "  J  —  with  that  other  text,  "  Masters,  give 
unto  your  servants  that  which  is  just  and  equal,"2  — 
with  that  great  story  of  Redemption,  when  the  Lord  raised 
the  slave-born  Moses  to  deliver  his  chosen  people  from 
the  house  of  bondage,  —  and  with  that  sublimer  story, 
where  the  Saviour  died  a  cruel  death,  that  all  men,  with- 
out distinction  of  race,  might  be  saved,  leaving  to  man- 
kind a  commandment  which,  even  without  his  example, 
makes  Slavery  impossible.  Thus,  in  order  to  fasten  your 
manacles  upon  the  slave,  you  fasten  other  manacles  upon 
his  soul.  The  ancients  maintained  Slavery  by  chains 
and  death: -you  maintain  it  by  that  infinite  despotism 
and  monopoly  through  which  human  nature  itself  is  de- 
graded. Sir,  is  not  Slavery  barbarous  ? 

1  Exodus,  xxi.  16.  2  Colossians,  iv.  1. 


THE  BAEBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         135 

Fifthly.  Slavery  paints  itself  again  in  the  appropria- 
tion of  all  the  toil  of  its  victims,  excluding  them  from 
that  property  in  their  own  earnings  which  the  Law  of 
Nature  allows  and  Civilization  secures.  The  painful 
injustice  of  this  pretension  is  lost  in  its  meanness.  It 
is  robbery  and  petty  larceny  under  garb  of  law.  And 
even  the  meanness  is  lost  in  the  absurdity  of  its  asso- 
ciate pretension,  that  the  African,  thus  despoiled  of  all 
earnings,  is  saved  from  poverty,  and  that  for  his  own 
good  he  must  work  for  his  master,  and  not  for  himself. 
Alas,  by  such  fallacy  is  a  whole  race  pauperized !  And 
yet  this  transaction  is  not  without  illustrative  example. 
A  sombre  poet,  whose  verse  has  found  wide  favor,  pic- 
tures a  creature  who 

"  with  one  hand  put 
A  penny  in  the  urn  of  poverty, 
And  with  the  other  took  a  shilling  out."  * 

And  a  celebrated  traveller  through  Russia,  more  than 
a  generation  ago,  describes  a  kindred  spirit,  who,  while 
devoutly  crossing  himself  at  church  with  his  right  hand, 
with  the  left  deliberately  picked  the  pocket  of  a  fellow- 
sinner  by  his  side.2  Not  admiring  these  instances,  I 
cannot  cease  to  deplore  a  system  which  has  much  of 
both,  while,  under  affectation  of  charity,  it  sordidly 
takes  from  the  slave  all  the  fruits  of  his  bitter  sweat, 
and  thus  takes  from  him  the  main  spring  to  exertion. 
Tell  me,  Sir,  is  not  Slavery  barbarous  ? 

Such  is  Slavery  in  its  five  special  elements  of  Barbar- 
ism, as  recognized  by  law :  first,  assuming  that  man  can 
hold  property  in  man  ;  secondly,  abrogating  the  relation 

1  Pollok,  Course  of  Time,  Book  VIII.  682-634. 

2  Clarke,  E.  I).,  Travels  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  (London,  1816,) 
YoL  L  pp.  72,  73. 


136          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

of  husband  and  wife ;  thirdly,  abrogating  the  parental 
tie ;  fourthly,  closing  the  gates  of  knowledge ;  and, 
fifthly,  appropriating  the  unpaid  labor  of  another.  Take 
away  these  elements,  sometimes  called  "abuses,"  and 
Slavery  will  cease  to  exist ;  for  it  is  these  very  "  abuses  " 
which  constitute  Slavery.  Take  away  any  one  of  them, 
and  the  abolition  of  Slavery  begins.  And  when  I  pre- 
sent Slavery  for  judgment,  I  mean  no  slight  evil,  with 
regard  to  which  there  may  be  reasonable  difference 
of  opinion,  but  I  mean  this  fivefold  embodiment  of 
"  abuse,"  this  ghastly  quincunx  of  Barbarism,  each 
particular  of  which,  if  considered  separately,  must  be 
denounced  at  once  with  all  the  ardor  of  an  honest  soul, 
while  the  whole  fivefold  combination  must  awake  a 
fivefold  denunciation.  The  historic  pirates,  once  the 
plague  of  the  Gulf  whose  waters  they  plundered,  have 
been  praised  for  the  equity  with  which  they  adjusted 
the  ratable  shares  of  spoil,  and  also  for  generous  bene- 
factions to  the  poor,  and  even  to  churches,  so  that  Sir 
Walter  Scott  could  say,  — 

"  Do  thou  rerere 
The  statutes  of  the  Buccaneer."  * 

In  our  Law  of  Slavery  what  is  there  to  revere  ?  what  is 
there  at  which  the  soul  does  not  rise  in  abhorrence  ? 

But  this  fivefold  combination  becomes  yet  more  hate- 
ful when  its  single  motive  is  considered ;  and  here  Sla- 
very paints  itself  finally.  The  Senator  from  Mississippi 
[  Mr.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS]  says  that  it  is  "  but  a  form  of 
civil  government  for  those  who  by  their  nature  are  not 
fit  to  govern  themselves."  The  Senator  is  mistaken. 
It  is  an  outrage,  where  five  different  pretensions  all 
concur  in  one  single  object,  looking  only  to  the  profit 

1  Rokeby,  Canto  I.  at.  21. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         137 

of  the  master,  and  constituting  its  ever-present  motive 
power,  which  is  simply  to  compel  the  labor  of  fellow-men 
without  wages.  If  I  pronounce  this  object  not  only  bar- 
barous, but  brutal,  I  follow  the  judgment  of  Luther's 
Bible,  in  the  book  "  Jesus  Sirach,"  known  in  our  trans* 
lation  as  Ecclesiasticus,  where  it  is  said  :  "  He  that  giv- 
eth  not  his  wages  to  the  laborer,  he  is  a  bloodhound" l 

Slavery  is  often  exposed  as  degrading  Humanity.  On 
this  fruitful  theme  nobody  has  expressed  himself  with 
the  force  and  beautiful  eloquence  of  our  own  Chan- 
ning.  His  generous  soul  glowed  with  indignation  at 
the  thought  of  man,  supremest  creature  of  earth,  and 
first  of  God's  works,  despoiled  of  manhood  and  changed 
to  a  thing.  But  earlier  than  Channing  was  Jean 
Jacques  Kousseau,  who,  with  similar  eloquence  and 
the  same  glowing  indignation,  vindicated  Humanity. 
How  grandly  he  insists  that  nobody  can  consent  to 
be  a  slave,  or  can  be  born  a  slave  !  Believing  Liberty 
the  most  noble  of  human  attributes,  this  wonderful 
writer  will  not  stop  to  consider  if  descent  to  the  condi- 
tion of  beasts  be  not  to  degrade  human  nature,  if  renun- 
ciation of  the  most  precious  of  all  God's  gifts  be  not  to 
offend  the  Author  of  our  being ;  but  he  demands  only  by 
what  right  those  who  degrade  themselves  to  this  depth 
can  subject  their  posterity  to  this  same  ignominy,  re- 
nouncing for  them  goods  which  do  not  depend  upon 
any  ancestors,  and  without  which  life  itself  is  to  all 

l  "  Wer  dem  Arbeiter  teinen  Lohn  nicht  gibt.  der  itt  ein  Bluthvnd."  (Cap. 
xxxv.  27.)  Our  less  energetic  version  pictures  the  same  enormity:  "The 
bread  of  the  needy  is  their  life  :  he  that  defraudeth  him  thereof  is  a  man 
of  blood."  (Ecclesiasticus,  xxxiv.  21.)  The  prophet  Jeremiah  unites  in 
this  judgment:  "  Woe  unto  him  that  buildeth  his  house  by  unrighteous- 
ness,  and  his  chambers  by  wrong;  that  useth  his  neighbor's  service  without 
wages,  and  giveth  him  not  for  his  work."  Chap.  xxii.  13. 


138          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

worthy  of  it  a  burden ;  and  he  justly  concludes,  that,  as, 
to  establish  Slavery,  it  is  necessary  to  violate  Nature, 
so,  to  perpetuate  this  claim,  it  is  necessary  to  change 
Nature.  His  final  judgment,  being  the  practical  con- 
clusion of  this  outburst,  holds  up  jurisconsults,  gravely 
pronouncing  that  the  child  of  a  slave  is  born  a  slave, 
as  deciding,  in  other  terms,  that  a  man  is  not  born  a 
man,1  —  thus  exposing  the  peculiar  absurdity  of  that 
pretension  by  which  Slavery  is  transmitted  from  the 
mother  to  her  offspring,  as  expressed  in  the  Latin  scrap 
on  which  the  Senator  from  Virginia  [  Mr.  MASON]  relies : 
Partus  sequitur  ventrem. 

If  the  offence  of  Slavery  were  less  extended,  if  it 
were  confined  to  some  narrow  region,  if  it  had  less  of 
grandeur  in  its  proportions,  if  its  victims  were  counted 
by  tens  and  hundreds  instead  of  millions,  the  five- 
headed  enormity  would  find  little  indulgence ;  all  would 
rise  against  it,  while  Religion  and  Civilization  would 
lavish  choicest  efforts  in  the  general  warfare.  But 
what  is  wrong  when  done  to  one  man  cannot  be  right 
when  done  to  many.  If  it  is  wrong  thus  to  degrade  a 
single  soul,  if  it  is  wrong  thus  to  degrade  you,  Mr. 
President,  it  cannot  be  right  to  degrade  a  whole  race. 
And  yet  this  is  denied  by  the  barbarous  logic  of  Slav- 
ery, which,  taking  advantage  of  its  own  wrong,  claims 
immunity  because  its  usurpation  has  assumed  a  front 
of  audacity  that  cannot  be  safely  attacked.  Unhappily, 
there  is  Barbarism  elsewhere  in  the  world  ;  but  Ameri- 
can Slavery,  as  defined  by  existing  law,  stands  fortli  as 
the  greatest  organized  Barbarism  on  which  the  sun  now 
looks.  It  is  without  a  single  peer.  Its  author,  after 
making  it,  broke  the  die. 

1  DiPcours  sur  1'Orieine  de  I'ln^galit^  parrai  les  Homines,  2nde  Partie: 
(Evivres,  Tom.  IV.  p.  179. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         139 

If  curiosity  carries  us  to  the  origin  of  this  law,  —  and 
here  I  approach  a  topic  often  considered  in  this  Cham- 
ber, —  we  shall  again  confess  its  Barbarism.  It  is  not 
derived  from  the  Common  Law,  that  fountain  of  Liberty ; 
for  this  law,  while  unhappily  recognizing  a  system  of 
servitude  known  as  villeinage,  secured  to  the  bondman 
privileges  unknown  to  the  American  slave,  —  guarded 
his  person  against  mayhem,  —  protected  his  wife  against 
rape,  —  gave  to  his  marriage  equal  validity  with  the 
marriage  of  his  master,  —  and  surrounded  his  offspring 
with  generous  presumptions  of  Freedom,  unlike  that 
rule  of  yours  by  which  the  servitude  of  the  mother  is 
necessarily  stamped  upon  the  child.  It  is  not  derived 
from  the  Eoman  Law,  that  fountain  of  Tyranny,  for  two 
reasons  :  first,  because  this  law,  in  its  better  days,  when 
its  early  rigors  were  spent,  like  the  Common  Law  itself, 
secured  to  the  bondman  privileges  unknown  to  the 
American  slave,  —  in  certain  cases  of  cruelty  rescued 
him  from  his  master,  prevented  separation  of  parents 
and  children,  also  of  brothers  and  sisters,  and  even 
protected  him  in  the  marriage  relation ;  and,  secondly, 
because  the  Thirteen  Colonies  were  not  derived  from 
any  of  those  countries  which  recognized  the  Koman 
Law,  while  this  law,  even  before  the  discovery  of  this 
continent,  had  lost  all  living  efficacy.  It  is  not  derived 
from  the  Mohammedan  Law ;  for,  under  the  mild  in- 
junctions of  the  Koran,  a  benignant  servitude,  unlike 
yours,  has  prevailed,  —  where  the  lash  is  not  allowed 
to  lacerate  the  back  of  a  female,  —  where  no  knife  or 
branding-iron  is  employed  upon  any  human  being,  to 
mark  him  as  the  property  of  his  fellow-man,  —  where 
the  master  is  expressly  enjoined  to  favor  the  desires  of 
his  slave  for  emancipation,  —  and  where  the  blood  of 


140         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

the  master,  mingling  with  that  of  his  bondwoman,  takes 
from  her  the  transferable  character  of  chattel,  and  con- 
fers complete  freedom  upon  their  offspring.  It  is  not 
derived  from  the  Spanish  Law ;  for  this  law  contains  hu- 
mane elements  unknown  to  your  system,  borrowed,  per- 
haps, from  Mohammedan  Moors  who  so  long  occupied 
Spain ;  and,  besides,  our  Thirteen  Colonies  had  no  um- 
bilical connection  with  Spain.  Nor  is  it  derived  from 
English  statutes  or  American  statutes ;  for  we  have  the 
positive  and  repeated  averment  of  the  Senator  from 
Virginia  [  Mr.  MASON],  and  also  of  other  Senators,  that 
in  not  a  single  State  of  the  Union  can  any  such  statutes 
establishing  Slavery  be  found.  From  none  of  these 
does  it  come. 

No,  Sir,  not  from  any  land  of  Civilization  is  this  Bar- 
barism derived.  It  comes  from  Africa,  ancient  nurse  of 
monsters,  —  from  Guinea,  Dahomey,  and  Congo.  There 
is  its  origin  and  fountain.  This  benighted  region,  we 
are  told  by  Chief-Justice  Marshall  in  a  memorable 
judgment,1  still  asserts  a  right,  discarded  by  Christen- 
dom, to  enslave  captives  taken  in  war;  and  this  Afri- 
can Barbarism  is  the  beginning  of  American  Slavery. 
The  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia,  a  Slave  State,  has  not 
shrunk  from  this  conclusion.  "  Licensed  to  hold  slave 
property,"  says  the  Court,  "  the  Georgia  planter  held 
the  slave  as  a  chattel,  either  directly  from  the  slave- 
trader  or  from  those  who  held  under  him,  and  he  from 
the  slave-captor  in  Africa.  The  property  of  the  planter 
in  the  slave  became  thus  the  property  of  the  original 
captor."2  It  is  natural  that  a  right  thus  derived  in 
defiance  of  Christendom,  and  openly  founded  on  the 

1  The  Antelope,  10  Wheaton,  66. 

2  Neal  v.  Farmer,  9  Georgia  Reports,  680. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         141 

most  vulgar  Paganism,  should  be  exercised  without  mit- 
igating influence  from  Christianity,  —  that  the  master's 
authority  over  the  person  of  his  slave,  over  his  conju- 
gal relations,  over  his  parental  relations,  over  the  em- 
ployment of  his  time,  over  all  his  acquisitions,  should 
be  recognized,  while  no  generous  presumption  inclines 
to  Freedom,  and  the  womb  of  the  bondwoman  can  de- 
liver only  a  slave. 

From  its  home  in  Africa,  where  it  is  sustained  by  im- 
memorial usage,  this  Barbarism,  thus  derived  and  thus 
developed,  traversed  the  ocean  to  American  soil  It 
entered  on  board  that  fatal  slave-ship, 

"  Built  in  the  eclipse,  and  rigged  with  curses  dark," 

which  in  1620  landed  its  cruel  cargo  at  Jamestown,  in 
Virginia;  and  it  has  boldly  taken  its  place  in  every 
succeeding  slave-ship,  from  that  early  day  till  now,  — 
helping  to  pack  the  human  freight,  regardless  of  human 
agony,  —  surviving  the  torments  of  the  middle  pas- 
sage, —  surviving  its  countless  victims  plunged  beneath 
the  waves  ;  and  it  has  left  the  slave-ship  only  to  travel 
inseparable  from  the  slave  in  his  various  doom,  sanc- 
tioning by  its  barbarous  code  every  outrage,  whether  of 
mayhem  or  robbery,  lash  or  lust,  and  fastening  itself 
upon  his  offspring  to  the  remotest  generation.  Thus 
are  barbarous  prerogatives  of  barbarous  half-naked  Afri- 
can chiefs  perpetuated  in  American  Slave-Masters,  while 
the  Senator  from  Virginia  [  Mr.  MASON],  perhaps  uncon- 
scious of  their  origin,  perhaps  desirous  to  secure  for 
them  the  appearance  of  a  less  barbarous  pedigree,  tricks 
them  out  with  a  phrase  of  the  Roman  Law,  discarded 
by  the  Common  Law,  which  simply  renders  into  an- 
cient Latin  an  existing  rule  of  African  Barbarism,  recog- 
nized as  an  existing  rule  of  American  Slavery. 


142         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Such  is  the  plain  juridical  origin  of  the  American 
slave  code,  now  vaunted  as  a  badge  of  Civilization.  But 
all  law,  whatever  its  juridical  origin,  whether  Christian 
or  Mohammedan,  Roman  or  African,  may  be  traced  to 
other  and  ampler  influences  in  Nature,  sometimes  of 
Eight  and  sometimes  of  Wrong.  Surely  the  law  which 
stamped  the  slave-trade  as  piracy  punishable  with  death 
had  a  different  inspiration  from  that  other  law  which 
secured  immunity  for  the  slave-trade  throughout  an  im- 
mense territory,  and  invested  its  supporters  with  politi- 
cal power.  As  there  is  a  nobler  law  above,  so  there  is 
a  meaner  law  below,  and  each  is  felt  in  human  affairs. 

Thus  far  we  have  seen  Slavery  only  in  pretended 
law,  and  in  the  origin  of  that  law.  Here  I  might  stop, 
without  proceeding  in  the  argument ;  for  on  the  letter 
of  the  law  alone  must  Slavery  be  condemned.  But  the 
tree  is  known  by  its  fruits,  which  I  shall  now  ex- 
hibit: and  this  brings  me  to  the  second  stage  of  the 
argument. 

(2.)  In  considering  the  practical  results  of  Slavery, 
the  materials  are  so  obvious  and  diversified  that  my 
chief  care  will  be  to  abridge  and  reject :  and  here  I  put 
the  Slave  States  and  Free  States  face  to  face,  showing 
at  each  point  the  blasting  influence  of  Slavery. 

Before  proceeding  with  these  details,  I  would  for  one 
moment  expose  that  degradation  of  free  labor,  which  is 
one  of  the  general  results.  Where  there  are  slaves, 
whose  office  is  work,  it  is  held  disreputable  for  a  white 
man  to  soil  his  skin  or  harden  his  hands  with  honest 
toil.  The  Slave-Master  of  course  declines  work,  and 
hi.s  pernicious  example  infects  all  others.  With  impi- 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         143 

ous  resolve,  they  would  reverse  the  Almighty  decree 
appointing  labor  as  the  duty  of  man,  and  declaring  that 
in  the  sweat  of  his  face  shall  he  eat  his  bread.  The 
Slave-Master  says,  "No!  this  is  true  of  the  slave,  of 
the  black  man,  but  not  of  the  white  man:  he  shall 
not  eat  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  face."  Thus  is  the 
brand  of  degradation  stamped  upon  that  daily  toil 
which  contributes  so  much  to  a  true  Civilization.  It  is 
a  constant  boast  in  the  Slave  States,  that  white  men 
there  will  not  perform  work  performed  in  the  Free 
States.  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Mr.  Waddy  Thompson  made 
this  boast.  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  then,  that,  where 
Slavery  prevails,  there  is  not  only  despair  for  the  black 
man,  but  inequality  and  ignominy  for  the  white  laborer. 
By  necessary  consequence,  the  latter,  whether  emigrat- 
ing from  our  Free  States  or  fleeing  from  oppression  and 
wretchedness  in  his  European  home,  avoids  a  region 
disabled  by  such  a  social  law.  Hence  a  twofold  in- 
justice :  practically  he  is  excluded  from  the  land,  while 
the  land  itself  becomes  a  prey  to  that  paralysis  which 
is  caused  by  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  God.  And  now 
for  the  testimony. 

The  States  where  this  Barbarism  exists  excel  the 
Free  States  in  all  natural  advantages.  Their  territory 
is  more  extensive,  stretching  over  851,448  square  miles, 
while  the  Free  States,  including  California,  embrace 
only  612,597  square  miles.  Here  is  a  difference  of 
more  than  238,000  square  miles  in  favor  of  the  Slave 
States,  showing  that  Freedom  starts  in  this  great 
rivalry  with  a  field  more  than  a  quarter  less  than 
that  of  Slavery.  In  happiness  of  climate,  adapted  to 
productions  of  special  value,  —  in  exhaustless  motive 
power  distributed  throughout  its  space,  —  in  natural 


144         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

highways,  by  more  than  fifty  navigable  rivers,  never 
closed  by  the  rigors  of  winter,  —  and  in  a  stretch  of 
coast,  along  Ocean  and  Gulf,  indented  by  hospitable  har- 
bors, —  the  whole  presenting  incomparable  advantages 
for  that  true  Civilization,  where  agriculture,  manufac- 
tures, and  commerce,  both  domestic  and  foreign,  blend, 
—  in  all  these  respects  the  Slave  States  excel  the  Free 
States,  whose  climate  is  often  churlish,  whose  motive 
power  is  less  various,  whose  navigable  rivers  are  few- 
er and  often  sealed  by  ice,  and  whose  coast,  while  less 
in  extent  and  with  fewer  harbors,  is  often  perilous  from 
storm  and  cold. 

But  Slavery  plays  the  part  of  a  Harpy,  and  denies 
the  choicest  banquet.  See  what  it  does  with  this  terri- 
tory, thus  spacious  and  fair. 

An  important  indication  of  prosperity  is  in  the  growth 
of  population.  In  this  respect  the  two  regions  started 
equal.  In  1790,  at  the  first  census  under  the  Consti- 
tution, the  population  of  the  present  Slave  States  was 
1,961,372,  of  the  present  Free  States  1,968,455,  showing 
a  difference  of  only  7,083  in  favor  of  the  Free  States. 
This  difference,  at  first  merely  nominal,  has  been  con- 
stantly increasing  since,  showing  itself  more  strongly  in 
each  decennial  census,  until,  in  1850,  the  population  of 
the  Slave  States,  swollen  by  the  annexation  of  three 
foreign  Territories,  Louisiana,  Florida,  and  Texas,  was 
only  9,612,969,  while  that  of  the  Free  States,  without 
such  large  annexations,  reached  13,434,922,  showing  a 
difference  of  3,821,953  in  favor  of  Freedom.  But  this 
difference  becomes  still  more  remarkable,  if  we  confine 
our  inquiries  to  the  white  population,  which  at  this 
period  was  only  6,184,477  in  the  Slave  States,  while  it 
was  13,238,670  in  the  Free  States,  showing  a  difference 


THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  145 

of  7,054,193,  in  favor  of  Freedom,  and  showing  also 
that  the  white  population  of  the  Free  States  had  not 
only  doubled,  but,  while  occupying  a  smaller  territory, 
commenced  to  triple,  that  of  the  Slave  States.  The 
comparative  sparseness  of  the  two  populations  furnishes 
another  illustration.  In  the  Slave  States  the  average 
number  of  inhabitants  to  a  square  mile  was  11.29,  while 
in  the  Free  States  it  was  21.93,  or  almost  two  to  one  in 
favor  of  Freedom. 

These  results  are  general ;  but  if  we  take  any  par- 
ticular Slave  State,  and  compare  it  with  a  Free  State, 
we  shall  find  the  same  marked  evidence  for  Freedom. 
Take  Virginia,  with  a  territory  of  61,352  miles,  and 
New  York,  with  a  territory  of  47,000,  or  over  14,000 
square  miles  less  than  her  sister  State.  New  York  has 
one  seaport,  Virginia  some  three  or  four;  New  York 
has  one  noble  river,  Virginia  has  several;  New  York 
for  400  miles  runs  along  the  frozen  line  of  Canada, 
Virginia  basks  in  a  climate  of  constant  felicity.  But 
Freedom  is  better  than  climate,  river,  or  seaport.  In 
1790  the  population  of  Virginia  was  748,308,  and  in 
1850  it  was  1,421,661.  In  1790  the  population  of  New 
York  was  340,120,  and  in  1850  it  was  3,097,394  That 
of  Virginia  had  not  doubled  in  sixty  years,  while  that 
of  New  York  had  multiplied  more  than  nine-fold.  A 
similar  comparison  may  be  made  between  Kentucky, 
with  37,680  square  miles,  admitted  into  the  Union  as 
long  ago  as  1792,  and  Ohio,  with  39,964  square  miles, 
admitted  into  the  Union  in  1802.  In  1850,  the  Slave 
State  had  a  population  of  only  982,405,  while  Ohio  had 
a  population  of  1,980,329,  showing  a  difference  of  nearly 
a  million  in  favor  of  Freedom. 

As  in  population,  so  also  in  the  value  of  property,  reed 

VOL.  VI.  —  10 


146         THE  BARBAKISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

and  personal,  do  the  Free  States  excel  the  Slave  States. 
According  to  the  census  of  1850,  the  value  of  property 
in  the  Free  States  was  $4,102,162,098,  while  in  the 
Slave  States  it  was  $2,936,090,737;  or,  if  we  deduct 
the  asserted  property  in  human  flesh,  only  $  1,655,945,- 
137,  —  showing  an  enormous  difference  of  billions  in 
favor  of  Freedom.  In  the  Free  States  the  valuation 
per  acre  was  $  10.46,  in  the  Slave  States  only  $  3.04. 
This  disproportion  was  still  greater  in  1855,  when, 
according  to  the  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
the  valuation  of  the  Free  States  was  $  5,770,197,679, 
or  $  14.71  per  acre ;  and  of  the  Slave  States,  $  3,977,- 
354,046,  or,  if  we  deduct  the  asserted  property  in  human 
flesh,  $2,505,186,446,  or  $4.59  per  acre.  Thus  in  five 
years  from  1850  the  valuation  of  property  in  the  Free 
States  received  an  increase  of  more  than  the  whole  ac- 
cumulated valuation  of  the  Slave  States  in  1850. 

Looking  at  details,  we  find  the  same  disproportions. 
Arkansas  and  Michigan,  nearly  equal  in  territory,  were 
organized  as  States  by  simultaneous  Acts  of  Congress ; 
and  yet  in  1855  the  whole  valuation  of  Arkansas,  in- 
cluding its  asserted  property  in  human  flesh,  was  only 
$  64,240,726,  while  that  of  Michigan,  without  a  single 
slave,  was  $  116,593,580.  The  whole  accumulated  valu- 
ation of  all  the  Slave  States,  deducting  the  asserted 
property  in  human  flesh,  in  1850,  was  only  $  1,655,- 
945,137 ;  but  the  valuation  of  New  York  alone,  in 
1855,  reached  the  nearly  equal  sum  of  $1,401,285,279. 
The  valuation  of  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Florida,  and  Texas,  all  together,  in  1850,  deducting 
human  flesh,  was  $559,224,920,  or  simply  $1.96  per 
acre,  —  being  less  than  that  of  Massachusetts  alone, 
which  was  $  573,342,286,  or  $  114.85  per  acre. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         147 

The  Slave  States  boast  of  agriculture  ;  but  here  again, 
notwithstanding  superior  natural  advantages,  they  must 
yield  to  the  Free  States  at  every  point,  —  in  the  num- 
ber of  farms  and  plantations,  in  the  number  of  acres 
improved,  in  the  cash  value  of  farms,  in  the  average 
value  per  acre,  and  in  the  value  of  farming  implements 
and  machinery.  Here  is  a  short  table. 

Free  States.  Slave  States. 

Number  of  farms,         .        .        .        873,608  569,201 

Acres  of  improved  land,    .         .       57,720,494  54,970,327 

Cash  value  of  farms,     .        .    $2,147,218,478  $1,117,649,649 

Average  value  per  acre,    .        .             $  19.17  $  6.18 

Value  of  farming  implements,        $85,840,141  $65,345,625 

Such  is  the  mighty  contrast.  But  it  does  not  stop 
here.  Careful  tables  place  the  agricultural  products  of 
the  Free  States,  for  the  year  ending  June,  1850,  at 
$888,634,334,  while  those  of  the  Slave  States  were 
$  631,277,417 ;  the  product  per  acre  in  the  Free  States  at 
$  7.94,  and  the  product  psr  acre  in  the  Slave  States  at 
S  3.49  ;  the  average  product  of  each  agriculturist  in  the 
Free  States  at  $  342,  and  in  the  Slave  States  at  $  171. 
Thus  the  Free  States,  with  a  smaller  population  engaged 
in  agriculture  than  the  Slave  States,  and  with  smaller 
territory,  show  an  annual  sum  total  of  agricultural  prod- 
ucts surpassing  those  of  the  Slave  States  by  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-seven  millions  of  dollars,  while  twice 
as  much  is  produced  by  each  agriculturist,  and  more 
than  twice  as  much  is  produced  on  an  acre.  The  mo- 
nopoly of  cotton,  rice,  and  cane-sugar,  with  a  climate 
granting  two  and  sometimes  three  crops  in  the  year,  is 
thus  impotent  in  competition  with  Freedom. 

In  manufactures,  mining,  and  the  mechanic  arts  the 
failure  of  the  Slave  States  is  greater  still     It  appears 


148          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

at  all  points,  —  in  the  capital  employed,  in  the  value  of 
the  raw  material,  in  the  annual  wages,  and  in  the  an- 
nual product.  A  short  table  will  show  the  contrast. 

Free  States.  Slave  States. 

Capital, $430,240,051  $95,029,877 

Value  of  raw  material,  .        .  465,844,092  86,190,639 

Annual  wages,          .        .         .  195,436,453  33,247,560 

Annual  product,  .         .        .  842,586,058  165,423,027 

This  might  be  illustrated  by  details  with  regard  to 
different  manufactures, — as  shoes,  cotton,  woollens,  pig 
iron,  wrought  iron,  and  iron  castings,  —  all  showing  the 
contrast.  It  might  also  be  illustrated  by  comparison 
between  different  States, —  showing,  for  instance,  that 
the  manufactures  of  Massachusetts,  during  the  last  year, 
exceeded  those  of  all  the  Slave  States  combined. 

In  commerce  the  failure  of  the  Slave  States  is  on  a 
yet  larger  scale.  Under  this  head  the  census  does  not 
supply  proper  statistics,  and  we  are  left  to  approxi- 
mations from  other  sources ;  but  these  are  enough  for 
our  purpose.  It  appears,  that,  of  products  which  enter 
into  commerce,  the  Free  States  had  an  amount  valued 
at  $  1,377,199,968,  the  Slave  States  an  amount  valued 
only  at  8  410,754,992 ;  that,  of  persons  engaged  in 
trade,  the  Free  States  had  136,856,  and  the  Slave 
States  52,622  ;  and  that,  of  tonnage  employed,  the  Free 
States  had  2,791,096  tons,  and  the  Slave  States  only 
726,284.  This  was  in  1850.  But  in  1855  the  dispropor- 
tion was  still  greater,  the  Free  States  having  4,320,768 
tons,  and  the  Slave  States  855,510  tons,  being  a  differ- 
ence of  five  to  one,  —  and  the  tonnage  of  Massachusetts 
alone  being  979,210  tons,  an  amount  larger  than  that  of 
all  the  Slave  States  together.  The  tonnage  built  during 
this  year  by  the  Free  States  was  528,844  tons,  by  the 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         149 

Slave  States  52,938  tons.  Maine  alone  built  215,905 
toiis,  or  more  than  four  times  the  whole  built  in  the 
Slave  States. 

The  foreign  commerce  of  the  Free  States,  in  1855,  as 
indicated  by  exports  and  imports,  was  $  404,365,503 ; 
of  the  Slave  States,  $  132,062,196.  The  exports  of  the 
Free  States  were  $  167,520,693 ;  of  the  Slave  States, 
including  the  vaunted  cotton  crop,  $  107,475,668.  The 
imports  of  the  Free  States  were  $236,844,810;  of  the 
Slave  States,  $24,586,528.  The  foreign  commerce  of 
New  York  alone  was  more  than  twice  as  large  as  that 
of  all  the  Slave  States ;  her  imports  were  larger,  and 
her  exports  were  larger  also.  Add  to  this  evidence  of 
figures  the  testimony  of  a  Virginian,  Mr.  Loudon,  in 
a  letter  written  just  before  the  sitting  of  a  South- 
ern Commercial  Convention.  Thus  he  complains  and 
testifies :  — 

"  There  are  not  half  a  dozen  vessels  engaged  in  our  own 
trade  that  are  owned  in  Virginia ;  and  I  have  been  unable 
to  find  a  vessel  at  Liverpool  loading  for  Virginia  within 
three  years,  during  the  height  of  our  busy  season." 

Railroads  and  canals  are  the  avenues  of  commerce  ; 
and  here  again  the  Free  States  excel.  Of  railroads  in 
operation  in  1854,  there  were  13,105  miles  in  the  Free 
States,  and  4,212  in  the  Slave  States.  Of  canals  there 
were  3,682  miles  in  the  Free  States,  and  1,116  in  the 
Slave  States. 

The  Post-Office,  which  is  the  agent  not  only  of  com- 
merce, but  of  civilization,  joins  in  the  uniform  testimony. 
According  to  the  tables  for  1859,  the  postage  collected 
in  the  Free  States  was  $5,581,749,  and  the  expense 
of  carrying  the  mails  $6,945,545,  leaving  a  deficit  of 


150         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

$  1,363,796.  In  the  Slave  States  the  amount  collected 
was  only  $  1,936,167,  and  the  expense  of  carrying  the 
mails  $  5,947,076,  leaving  the  enormous  deficit  of  $  4,- 
010,909,  —  the  difference  between  the  two  deficits  being 
$2,647,113.  The  Slave  States  did  not  pay  one  third  of 
the  expense  in  transporting  their  own  mails ;  and  not  a 
single  Slave  State  paid  for  transporting  its  own  mails, 
not  even  the  small  State  of  Delaware.  Massachusetts, 
besides  paying  for  hers,  had  a  surplus  larger  by  one  half 
than  the  whole  amount  collected  in  South  Carolina. 

According  to  the  census  of  1850,  the  value  of  churches 
in  the  Free  States  was  $66,177,586;  in  the  Slave  States, 
8  20,683,265. 

The  voluntary  charity  contributed  in  1855,  for  certain 
leading  purposes  of  Christian  benevolence,  was,  in  the 
Free  States,  $955,511;  for  the  same  purposes  in  the 
Slave  States,  $  193,885.  For  the  Bible  cause  the  Free 
States  contributed  $  321,365 ;  the  Slave  States,  $  67,226. 
For  the  Missionary  cause  the  former  contributed  $  502,- 
174  ;  and  the  latter,  $  101,934.  For  the  Tract  Society 
the  former  contributed  $  131,972  ;  and  the  latter,  $  24,- 
725.  The  amount  contributed  for  Missions  by  Massa- 
chusetts was  greater  than  that  contributed  by  all  the 
Slave  States,  and  more  than  eight  times  that  con- 
tributed by  South  Carolina. 

Nor  have  the  Free  States  been  backward  in  char- 
ity for  the  benefit  of  the  Slave  States.  The  records  of 
Massachusetts  show  that  as  long  ago  as  1781,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Government,  there  was  a  contribution 
throughout  the  Commonwealth,  under  the  particular 
direction  of  that  eminent  patriot,  Samuel  Adams,  for 
the  relief  of  inhabitants  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia1 

1  Wells,  Life  of  Samuel  Adams,  Vol.  III.  pp.  138,  139. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         151 

In  1855  we  were  saddened  by  the  prevalence  of  yellow 
fever  in  Portsmouth,  Virginia ;  and  now,  from  a  report 
of  the  Relief  Committee  of  that  place,  we  learn  that  the 
amount  of  charity  contributed  by  the  Slave  States,  ex- 
clusive of  Virginia,  the  afflicted  State,  was  $  12,182  ; 
and  including  Virginia,  it  was  $  33,398  ;  while  $  42,547 
was  contributed  by  the  Free  States. 

In  all  this  array  we  see  the  fatal  influence  of  Slavery. 
But  its  Barbarism  is  yet  more  conspicuous,  when  we 
consider  its  Educational  Establishments,  and  the  un- 
happy results  naturally  ensuing  from  their  imperfect 
character. 

Of  colleges,  in  1856,  the  Free  States  had  61,  and 
the  Slave  States  59 ;  but  the  comparative  efficacy  of 
the  institutions  assuming  this  name  may  be  measured 
by  certain  facts.  The  number  of  graduates  in  the  Free 
States  was  47,752,  in  the  Slave  States  19,648;  the 
number  of  ministers  educated  in  Slave  colleges  was 
747,  in  Free  colleges  10,702 ;  and  the  number  of  vol- 
umes in  the  libraries  of  Slave  colleges  308,011,  in  the 
libraries  of  Free  colleges  668,497.  If  materials  were  at 
hand  for  comparison  between  these  colleges,  in  build- 
ings, cabinets,  and  scientific  apparatus,  or  in  standard 
of  scholarship,  the  difference  would  be  still  more  ap- 
parent. 

Of  professional  schools,  teaching  law,  medicine,  and 
theology,  the  Free  States  had  65,  with  269  professors, 
4,417  students,  and  175,951  volumes  in  their  libraries; 
while  the  Slave  States  had  only  32  professional  schools, 
with  122  professors,  1,816  students,  and  30,796  volumes 
in  their  libraries.  The  whole  number  educated  at  these 
institutions  in  the  Free  States  was  23,513,  in  the  Slave 
States  3,812.  Of  these,  the  largest  number  in  the  Slave 


152         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

States  study  medicine,  next  theology,  and  lastly  law. 
According  to  the  census,  there  are  only  808  students  in 
the  Slave  theological  schools,  and  747  studying  for  the 
ministry  in  Slave  colleges ;  and  this  is  the  education  of 
the  Slave  clergy.  In  the  law  schools  of  the  Slave 
States  the  number  of  students  is  only  240,  this  being 
the  sum-total  of  public  students  in  the  land  of  Slavery 
devoted  to  that  profession  which  is  the  favorite  step- 
ping-stone to  political  life,  where  Slave-Masters  claim 
such  a  disproportion  of  office  and  honor. 

Of  academies  and  private  schools,  in  1850,  the  Free 
States,  notwithstanding  multitudinous  public  schools, 
had  3,197,  with  7,175  teachers,  154,893  pupils,  and 
an  annual  income  of  $  2,457,372 ;  the  Slave  States 
had  2,797  academies  and  private  schools,  with  4,913 
teachers,  104,976  pupils,  and  an  annual  income  of 
$2,079,724.  In  the  absence  of  public  schools,  to  a 
large  extent,  where  Slavery  exists,  the  dependence  must 
be  upon  private  schools ;  and  yet  even  here  the  Slave 
States  fall  below  the  Free  States,  whether  we  consider 
the  number  of  schools,  the  number  of  pupils,  the  num- 
ber of  teachers,  or  the  amount  paid  for  their  support. 

In  public  schools,  open  to  all,  poor  and  rich  alike,  the 
preeminence  of  the  Free  States  is  complete.  Here  the 
figures  show  a  difference  as  wide  as  that  between  Free- 
dom and  Slavery.  Their  number  in  the  Free  States  is 
62,433,  with  72,621  teachers,  and  with  2,769,901  pupils, 
supported  at  an  annual  expense  of  $  6,780,337.  Their 
number  in  the  Slave  States  is  18,507,  with  19,307 
teachers,  and  with  581,861  pupils,  supported  at  an 
annual  expense  of  $  2,719,534.  This  difference  may 
be  illustrated  by  details.  Virginia,  an  old  State,  and 
more  than  a  third  larger  than  Ohio,  has  67,353  pupils 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         153 

in  her  public  schools,  while  the  latter  State  has  484,153. 
Arkansas,  equal  in  age  and  size  with  Michigan,  has  only 
8,493  pupils  at  her  public  schools,  while  the  latter  State 
has  110,455.  South  Carolina,  nearly  four  times  as  large 
as  Massachusetts,  has  17,838  pupils  at  public  schools, 
while  the  latter  State  has  176,475.  South  Carolina 
spends  for  this  purpose,  annually,  $200,600;  Massa- 
chusetts, $1,006,795.  Baltimore,  with  a  population  of 
169,054,  on  the  northern  verge  of  Slavery,  has  school 
buildings  valued  at  $  105,729 ;  Boston,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  136,881,  has  school  buildings  valued  at  $  729,502. 
Baltimore  has  only  37  public  schools,  with  138  teach- 
ers, and  8,011  pupils,  supported  at  an  annual  expense 
of  $  32,423 ;  Boston  has  203  public  schools,  with  353 
teachers,  and  20,369  pupils,  supported  at  an  annual  ex- 
pense of  $  237,100.  Even  these  figures  do  not  disclose 
the  whole  difference ;  for  there  exist  in  the  Free  States 
teachers'  institutes,  normal  schools,  lyceums,  and  public 
courses  of  lectures,  unknown  in  the  region  of  Slavery. 
These  advantages  are  enjoyed  by  the  children  of  colored 
persons ;  and  here  is  a  comparison  which  shows  the 
degradation  of  the  Slave  States.  It  is  their  habit  par- 
ticularly to  deride  free  colored  persons.  See,  now,  with 
what  cause.  The  number  of  colored  persons  in  the 
Free  States  is  196,016,  of  whom  22,043,  or  more  than 
one  ninth,  attend  school,  which  is  a  larger  proportion 
than  is  supplied  by  the  whites  of  the  Slave  States.  In 
Massachusetts  there  are  9,064  colored  persons,  of  whom 
1,439,  or  nearly  one  sixth,  attend  school,  which  is  a 
much  larger  proportion  than  is  supplied  by  the  whites 
of  South  Carolina. 

Among  educational  establishments  are  public  libra- 
ries;  and  here,  again,  the  Free  States  have  their  cus« 


154         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

ternary  eminence,  whether  we  consider  libraries  strictly 
called  public,  or  libraries  of  the  common  school,  Sun- 
day school,  college,  and  church.  The  disclosures  are 
startling.  The  number  of  libraries  in  the  Free  States 
is  14,893,  and  the  sum-total  of  volumes  is  3,883,617 ; 
the  number  of  libraries  in  the  Slave  States  is  713, 
and  the  sum-total  of  volumes  is  654,194 :  showing  an 
excess  for  Freedom  of  more  than  fourteen  thousand 
libraries,  and  more  than  three  millions  of  volumes.  In 
the  Free  States  the  common-school  libraries  are  11,881, 
and  contain  1,589,683  volumes ;  in  the  Slave  States 
they  are  186,  and  contain  57,721  volumes.  In  the  Free 
States  the  Sunday-school  libraries  are  1,713,  and  con- 
tain 474,241  volumes ;  in  the  Slave  States  they  are  275, 
and  contain  68,080  volumes.  In  the  Free  States  the 
college  libraries  are  132,  and  contain  660,573  volumes ; 
in  the  Slave  States  they  are  79,  and  contain  249,248 
volumes.  In  the  Free  States  the  church  libraries  are 
109,  and  contain  52,723  volumes ;  in  the  Slave  States 
they  are  21,  and  contain  5,627  volumes.  In  the  Free 
States  the  libraries  strictly  called  public,  and  not  in- 
cluded under  heads  already  enumerated,  are  1,058,  and 
contain  1,106,397  volumes;  those  of  the  Slave  States 
are  152,  and  contain  273,518  volumes. 

Turn  these  figures  over,  look  at  them  in  any  light, 
and  the  conclusion  is  irresistible  for  Freedom.  The 
college  libraries  alone  of  the  Free  States  are  greater 
than  all  the  libraries  of  Slavery ;  so,  also,  are  the  libra- 
ries of  Massachusetts  alone  greater  than  all  the  libraries 
of  Slavery ;  and  the  common-school  libraries  alone  of 
New  York  are  more  than  twice  as  large  as  all  the  li- 
braries of  Slavery.  Michigan  has  107,943  volumes  in 
her  libraries ;  Arkansas  has  420 ;  and  yet  the  Acts  for 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         155 

the  admission  of  these  two  States  into  the  Union  were 
passed  on  the  same  day. 

Among  educational  establishments,  one  of  the  most 
efficient  is  the  press ;  and  here  again  all  things  testify 
for  Freedom.  The  Free  States  excel  in  the  number  of 
newspapers  and  periodicals  published,  whether  daily, 
semi-weekly,  weekly,  semi-monthly,  monthly,  or  quar- 
terly, —  and  whatever  their  character,  whether  literary, 
neutral,  political,  religious,  or  scientific.  The  whole  ag- 
gregate circulation  in  the  Free  States  is  334,146,281, 
in  the  Slave  States  81,038,693;  in  Free  Michigan 
3,247,736,  in  Slave  Arkansas  377,000;  in  Free  Ohio 
30,473,407,  in  Skve  Kentucky  6,582,838;  in  Slave 
South  Carolina  7,145,930,  in  Free  Massachusetts  64,- 
820,564, — a  larger  number  than  in  the  twelve  Slave 
States,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Florida, 
Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  Texas,  combined.  This  enor- 
mous disproportion  in  the  aggregate  is  also  preserved 
in  the  details.  In  the  Slave  States  political  newspapers 
find  more  favor  than  all  others  together;  but  even 
of  these  they  publish  only  47,243,209  copies,  while  the 
Free  States  publish  163,583,668.  Numerous  as  are  po- 
litical newspapers  in  the  Free  States,  they  form  consid- 
erably less  than  one  half  the  aggregate  circulation  of 
the  Press,  while  in  the  Slave  States  they  constitute  near- 
ly three  fifths.  Of  neutral  newspapers  the  Slave  States 
publish  8,812,620,  the  Free  States  79,156,733.  Of 
religious  newspapers  the  Slave  States  publish  4,364,- 
832,  the  Free  States  29,280,652.  Of  literary  journals 
the  Slave  States  publish  20,245,360,  the  Free  States 
57,478,768.  And  of  scientific  journals  the  Slave  States 
publish  372,672,  the  Free  States  4,521,260.  Of  these 


156         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

last  the  number  of  copies  published  in  Massachusetts 
alone  is  2,033,260,  —  more  than  five  times  the  number 
in  the  whole  land  of  Slavery.  Thus,  in  contributions  to 
science,  literature,  religion,  and  even  politics,  as  attested 
by  the  activity  of  the  periodical  press,  do  the  Slave 
States  rhiserably  fail,  —  while  darkness  gathers  over 
them,  increasing  with  time.  According  to  the  census 
of  1810,  the  disproportion  in  this  respect  between  the 
two  regions  was  only  as  two  to  one ;  it  is  now  more 
than  four  to  one,  and  is  still  darkening. 

The  same  disproportion  appears  with  regard  to  per- 
sons connected  with  the  Press.  In  the  Free  States  the 
number  of  printers  was  11,812,  of  whom  1,229  were  in 
Massachusetts ;  in  the  Slave  States  there  were  2,625,  of 
whom  South  Carolina  had  only  141.  In  the  Free  States 
the  number  of  publishers  was  331;  in  the  Slave  States, 
24.  Of  these,  Massachusetts  had  51,  or  more  than 
twice  as  many  as  all  the  Slave  States;  while  South 
Carolina  had  but  one.  In  the  Free  States  the  authors 
were  73  ;  in  the  Slave  States,  6,  —  Massachusetts  having 
17,  and  South  Carolina  none.  These  suggestive  illustra- 
tions are  all  derived  from  the  last  official  census.  If  we 
go  to  other  sources,  the  contrast  is  still  the  same.  Of 
the  authors  mentioned  in  Duyckinck's  "  Cyclopaedia  of 
American  Literature,"  434  are  of  the  Free  States,  and 
only  90  of  the  Slave  States.  Of  the  poets  mentioned 
in  Griswold's  "  Poets  and  Poetry  of  America,"  122  are  of 
the  Free  States,  and  only  16  of  the  Slave  States.  Of 
the  poets  whose  place  of  birth  appears  in  Read's  "  Fe- 
male Poets  of  America,"  71  are  of  the  Free  States,  and 
only  11  of  the  Slave  States.  If  we  try  authors  by 
weight  or  quality,  it  is  the  same  as  when  we  try  them 
by  numbers.  Out  of  the  Free  States  come  all  whose 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         157 

works  have  a  place  in  the  permanent  literature  of  the 
country,  —  Irving,  Prescott,  Sparks,  Bancroft,  Emerson, 
Motley,  Hildreth,  Hawthorne;  also,  Bryant,  Longfel- 
low, Dana,  Halleck,  Whittier,  Lowell,  —  and  I  might 
add  indefinitely  to  the  list.  But  what  name  from  the 
Slave  States  can  find  entrance  there  ? 

A  similar  disproportion  appears  in  the  number  of 
Patents,  during  the  last  three  years,  1857,  1858,  and 
1859,  attesting  the  inventive  industry  of  the  contrasted 
regions.  In  the  Free  States  there  were  9,557 ;  in  the 
Slave  States,  1,306 :  making  a  difference  of  8,251  in 
favor  of  Freedom.  The  number  in  Free  Massachusetts 
was  1,351 ;  in  Slave  South  Carolina,  39.  The  number  in 
Free  Connecticut,  small  in  territory  and  population,  was 
628;  in  Slave  Virginia,  large  in  territory  and  popula- 
tion, 184. 

From  these  things  we  might  infer  the  ignorance, 
prevalent  in  the  Slave  States ;  but  this  shows  itself  in 
specific  results  of  a  deplorable  character,  authenticated 
by  the.  official  census.  In  the  Slave  States  there  were 
493,026  native  white  adults,  persons  over  twenty  years 
of  age,  unable  to  read  and  write;  while  in  the  Free 
States,  with  double  the  native  white  population,  there 
were  but  248,725  persons  of  this  class  in  this  unhappy 
predicament:  in  the  Slave  States  the  proportion  being 
1  in  5  of  the  adult  native  whites ;  in  the  Free  States 
1  in  22.  The  number  in  Free  Massachusetts,  in  an 
adult  native  white  population  of  470,375,  was  1,055, 
or  1  in  446 ;  the  number  in  Slave  South  Carolina,  in  a 
like  population  of  only  120,136,  was  15,580,  or  1  in  8. 
The  number  in  Free  Connecticut  was  1  in  256,  in  Slave 
Virginia  1  in  5 ;  in  Free  New  Hampshire  1  in  192,  and 
in  Slave  North  Carolina  1  in  3. 


158  THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY. 

Before  leaving  this  picture,  where  the  dismal  colors 
all  come  from  official  sources,  there  are  two  other  as- 
pects in  which  Slavery  may  be  regarded. 

1.  The  first  is  its  influence  on  emigration.     The  of- 
ficial compendium  of  the  census  (page  115)  tells  us  that 
inhabitants  of  Slave  States  who  are   natives  of  Free 
States  are  more  numerous   than   inhabitants   of  Free 
States  who  are  natives  of  Slave  States.    This  is  an  egre- 
gious error.     Just  the  contrary  is  true.     The  census  of 
1850  found  606,139  in  the  Free  States  who  were  born 
in  the  Slave  States,  while  only  206,624  born  in  the 
Free  States  were  in  the  Slave  States.     And  since  the 
white  population  of  the  Free  States  is  double  that  of 
the   Slave   States,   it   appears   that  the  proportion   of 
whites  moving  from  Slavery  is  six  times  greater  than 
that  of  whites  moving  into  Slavery.     This  simple  fact 
discloses  something  of  the  aversion  to  Slavery  which 
is  aroused  even  in  the  Slave  States. 

2.  The  second  is  furnished  by  the  character  of  the 
region  on  the  border-line  between  Freedom  and  Slavery. 
In  general,  the  value  of  lands  in  Slave  States  adjoin- 
ing Freedom  is  advanced,   while  the   value   of  corre- 
sponding lands  in  Free  States  is  diminished.     The  ef- 
fects of  Freedom  and  Slavery  are  reciprocal.     Slavery  is 
a  bad  neighbor ;  Freedom  is  a  good  neighbor.     In  Vir- 
ginia, lands  naturally  poor  are,  by  nearness  to  Freedom, 
worth  8  12.98  an  acre,  while  richer  lands  in  other  parts 
of  the  State  are  worth  only  $  8.42.     In  Illinois,  lands 
bordering  on  Slavery  are  worth  only  $  4.54  an  acre, 
while  other  lands  in  Illinois  are  worth  $  8.05.     As  in 
the  value  of  lands,  so  in  all  other  influences  is  Slavery 
felt  for  evil,  and  Freedom  felt  for  good ;  and  thus  is  it 
clearly  shown  to  be  for  the  interest  of  the  Slave  States 
to  be  surrounded  by  a  circle  of  Free  States. 


THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  159 

At  every  point  is  the  character  of  Slavery  more  and 
more  manifest,  rising  and  dilating  into  an  overshadow- 
ing Barbarism,  darkening  the  whole  land.  Through 
its  influence,  population,  values  of  all  kinds,  manufac- 
tures, commerce,  railroads,  canals,  charities,  the  post- 
office,  colleges,  professional  schools,  academies,  public 
schools,  newspapers,  periodicals,  books,  authorship,  in- 
ventions, are  all  stunted,  and,  under  a  Government 
which  professes  to  be  founded  on  the  intelligence  of  the 
people,  one  in  five  of  native  white  adults  in  the  region 
of  Slavery  is  officially  reported  as  unable  to  read  and 
write.  Never  was  the  saying  of  Montesquieu  more  tri- 
umphantly verified,  that  countries  are  not  cultivated  by 
reason  of  their  fertility,  but  by  reason  of  their  liberty. 
To  this  truth  the  Slave  States  testify  perpetually  by 
every  possible  voice.  Liberty  is  the  powerful  agent 
which  drives  the  plough,  the  spindle,  and  the  keel, — 
opens  avenues  of  all  kinds,  —  inspires  charity,  —  awak- 
ens love  of  knowledge,  and  supplies  the  means  of  grati- 
fying it.  Liberty  is  the  first  of  schoolmasters  :  nay, 
more;  it  is  the  Baconian  philosophy  of  Civilization, 
through  which  the  powers  and  activities  of  man  are 
enlarged  beyond  measure  or  imagination. 

Unerring  and  passionless  figures  thus  far  are  our  wit- 
nesses. But  their  testimony  will  be  enhanced  by  a  final 
glance  at  the  geographical  character  of  the  Slave  States  ; 
and  here  there  is  a  singular  and  instructive  parallel. 

Jefferson  described  Virginia  as  "  fast  sinking "  to  be 
"  the  Barbary  of  the  Union," 1  —  meaning,  of  course,  the 
Barbary  of  his  day,  which  had  not  yet  turned  against 
Slavery.  And  Franklin  also  wrote,  that  he  did  "not 
wish  to  see  a  new  Barbary  rising  in  America,  and  our 

i  Letter  to  Joseph  C.  Cabell,  Nov.  28, 1820:  Writings,  Vol.  VII.  p.  187. 


160         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

long  extended  coast  occupied  by  piratical  States."1 
In  this  each  spoke  with  prophetic  voice.  Though  on 
different  sides  of  the  Atlantic  and  on  different  conti- 
nents, our  Slave  States  and  the  original  Barbary  States 
occupy  nearly  the  same  parallels  of  latitude,  occupy 
nearly  the  same  extent  of  longitude,  embrace  nearly 
the  same  number  of  square  miles,  enjoy  kindred  ad- 
vantages of  climate,  being  equally  removed  from  the 
cold  of  the  North  and  the  burning  heat  of  the  tropics, 
and  also  have  similar  boundaries  of  land  and  water, 
affording  kindred  advantages  of  ocean  and  sea,  with 
this  difference,  that  the  boundaries  of  the  two  regions 
are  precisely  reversed,  so  that  where  is  land  in  one 
is  water  in  the  other,  while  in  both  there  is  the  same 
extent  of  ocean  and  the  same  extent  of  sea.  Nor  is 
this  all.  Algiers,  for  a  long  time  the  most  obnoxious 
place  in  the  Barbary  States  of  Africa,  once  branded  by 
an  indignant  chronicler  as  "the  wall  of  the  Barbarian 
world,"2  is  situated  near  the  parallel  of  36°  30'  north 
latitude,  being  the  line  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
which  once  marked  the  wall  of  Slavery  in  our  coun- 
try west  of  the  Mississippi,  while  Morocco,  the  chief 
present  seat  of  Slavery  in  the  African  Barbary,  is  near 
the  parallel  of  Charleston.  There  are  no  two  spaces  on 
the  surface  of  the  globe,  equal  in  extent,  (and  careful  ex- 
amination will  verify  what  I  am  about  to  state,)  which 
present  so  many  distinctive  features  of  resemblance, 
whether  we  consider  the  common  regions  of  latitude 
in  which  they  lie,  the  common  nature  of  their  bound- 
aries, their  common  productions,  their  common  climate, 

1  Letter  to  David  Hartley,  May  8, 1783 :  Works,  ed.  Sparks,  Vol.  IX.  p. 
621. 

*  Purchas's  Pilgrims,  Vol.  H.  p.  1565. 


THE   BARBARISM   OF  SLAVERY.  161 

or  the  common  Barbarism  which  sought  shelter  in  both. 
I  do  not  stop  to  inquire  why  Slavery  —  banished  at 
last  from  Europe,  banished  also  from  that  part  of  this 
hemisphere  which  corresponds  in  latitude  to  Europe 
—  should  have  intrenched  itself,  in  both  hemispheres, 
in  similar  regions  of  latitude,  so  that  Virginia,  Carolina, 
Mississippi,  and  Missouri  are  the  American  complement 
to  Morocco,  Algiers,  Tripoli,  and  Tunis.  But  there  is 
one  important  point  in  the  parallel  which  remains  to 
be  fulfilled.  The  barbarous  Emperor  of  Morocco,  in  the 
words  of  a  treaty,  so  long  ago  as  the  last  century,  de- 
clared his  desire  that  "  the  odious  name  of  Slavery  might 
be  effaced  from  the  memory  of  men  " ; l  while  Algiers, 
Tripoli,  and  Tunis,  whose  tenacity  for  the  Barbarism 
was  equalled  only  by  that  of  South  Carolina,  have  re- 
nounced it  one  after  another,  and  delivered  it  over 
to  the  indignation  of  mankind.  Following  this  exam- 
ple, the  parallel  will  be  complete,  and  our  Barbary  will 
become  the  complement  in  Freedom  to  the  African 
Barbary,  as  it  has  already  been  its  complement  in 
Slavery,  and  is  unquestionably  its  complement  in  geo- 
graphical character. 


II 


FROM  the  consideration  of  Slavery  in  its  practical 
results,  illustrated  by  contrast  between  the  Free  States 
and  Slave  States,  I  pass  to  another  stage  of  the  argu- 
ment, where  Slavery  appears  in  its  influence  on  the 

i  "  Deseando  ademas  S.  M.  Marroqui  que  se  borre  de  la  meraoria  de  los 
hombres  el  odioso  nombre  de  esclavitud,"  etc.  —  Treaty  between  Spain  and 
Morocco,  March  1, 1799,  Art  XIII. :  Martens,  Recueil  des  Traites,  2do  £dit, 
Tom.  VI.  p.  590. 

VOL.  VI. — 11 


162         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

CHARACTER  OF  SLAVE-MASTERS.  Nothing  could  I  un- 
dertake more  painful,  and  yet  there  is  nothing  more 
essential  to  the  discussion,  especially  in  response  to 
pretensions  of  Senators  on  this  floor,  nor  is  there  any 
point  on  which  the  evidence  is  more  ample. 

It  is  in  the  Character  of  Slavery  itself  that  we  are 
to  find  the  Character  of  Slave-Masters.  I  need  not 
go  back  to  the  golden  mouth  of  Chrysostom  to  learn 
that  "  Slavery  is  the  fruit  of  covetousness,  of  extrava- 
gance, of  insatiable  greediness  " ; 1  for  we  have  already 
seen  that  this  fivefold  enormity  is  inspired  by  the 
single  idea  of  compelling  men  to  work  without  wages. 
This  spirit  must  naturally  appear  in  the  Slave-Master. 
But  the  eloquent  Saint  did  not  disclose  the  whole  truth. 
Slavery  is  founded  on  violence,  as  we  have  already  too 
clearly  seen ;  of  course  it  can  be  sustained  only  by  kin- 
dred violence,  sometimes  against  the  defenceless  slave, 
sometimes  against  the  freeman  whose  indignation  is 
aroused  at  the  outrage.  It  is  founded  on  brutal  and 
vulgar  pretensions,  as  is  unhappily  too  apparent;  of 
course  it  can  be  sustained  only  by  kindred  brutality 
and  vulgarity.  The  denial  of  all  rights  in  the  slave 
can  be  sustained  only  by  disregard  of  other  rights,  com- 
mon to  the  whole  community,  whether  of  the  person, 
the  press,  or  speech.  Where  this  exists  there  can  be 
but  one  supreme  law,  to  which  all  other  laws,  statute 
or  social,  are  subordinate,  —  and  this  is  the  pretended 
law  of  Slavery.  All  these  things  must  be  manifest  in 
Slave-Masters ;  and  yet,  unconscious  of  their  true  con- 
dition, they  make  boasts  which  reveal  still  further  the 
unhappy  influence.  Barbarous  standards  of  conduct  are 
unblushingly  avowed.  The  swagger  of  a  bully  is  called 

1  In  Epist.  ad  Ephes.  Homil.  XXII.  2. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         163 

chivalry ;  a  swiftness  to  quarrel  is  called  courage ;  the 
bludgeon  is  adopted  as  substitute  for  argument;  and 
assassination  is  lifted  to  be  one  of  the  Fine  Arts.  Long 
ago  it  was  fixed  certain  that  the  day  which  makes  man 
a  slave  "  takes  half  his  worth  away,"  —  words  from  the 
ancient  harp  of  Homer,  sounding  through  long  gener- 
ations. Nothing  here  is  said  of  the  human  being  at 
the  other  end  of  the  chain.  To  aver  that  on  this  same 
day  all  his  worth  is  taken  away  might  seem  inconsist- 
ent with  exceptions  which  we  gladly  recognize ;  but, 
alas !  it  is  too  clear,  both  from  reason  and  from  facts, 
that,  bad  as  Slavery  is  for  the  Slave,  it  is  worse  for  the 
Master. 

In  making  this  exposure  I  am  fortified  at  the  outset 
by  two  classes  of  authority,  whose  testimony  it  will  be 
difficult  to  question:  the  first  personal,  and  founded 
on  actual  experience;  the  second  philosophical,  and 
founded  on  everlasting  truth. 

First,  Personal  Authority.  And  here  I  adduce  words, 
often  quoted,  which  dropped  from  the  lips  of  Slave- 
Masters  in  those  better  days,  when,  seeing  the  wrong  of 
Slavery,  they  escaped  from  its  injurious  influence.  Of 
these,  none  expressed  themselves  with  more  vigor  than 
George  Mason,  a  Slave-Master  from  Virginia,  in  debate 
on  the  adoption  of  the  National  Constitution.  This  is 
his  language :  — 

"  Slavery  discourages  arts  and  manufactures.  The  poor 
despise  labor,  when  performed  by  slaves.  They  prevent  the 
emigration  of  whites,  who  really  enrich  and  strengthen  a 
country.  They  produce  the  most  pemiciou*  effect  on  manners. 
EVERY  MASTER  OF  SLAVES  is  BORN  A  PETTY  TYRANT.  They 
bring  the  judgment  of  Heaven  on  a  country."  * 

1  Debates  in  the  Federal  Convention,  August  22, 1787:  Madison  Papers, 
Vol.  III.  p.  1391. 


164          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Thus,  with  a  few  touches,  does  this  Slave-Master  por- 
tray his  class,  putting  them  in  that  hateful  list  which, 
according  to  every  principle  of  liberty,  must  be  resisted 
so  long  as  we  obey  God.  And  this  clear  testimony 
received  kindred  support  from  the  fiery  soul  of  Jeffer- 
son. Here  are  his  words  :  — 

"  There  must  doubtless  be  an  unhappy  influence  on  the 
manners  of  our  people  produced  by  the  existence  of  Slavery 
among  us.  The  whole  commerce  between  master  and  slave 
is  a  perpetual  exercise  of  the  most  boisterous  passions,  THE 
MOST  UNREMITTING  DESPOTISM  on  the  one  part,  and  degrading 
submissions  on  the  other.  Our  children  see  this,  and  learn  to 

imitate  it The  man  must  be  a  prodigy  who  can  retain 

his  manners  and  morals  undepraved  by  such  circumstances. 
And  with  what  execration  should  the  statesman  be  loaded, 
who,  permitting  one  half  the  citizens  thus  to  trample  on  the 
rights  of  the  other,  transforms  those  into  despots  and  these 
into  enemies,  destroys  the  morals  of  the  one  part  and  the 
amor  patrice  of  the  other  !  .  .  .  .  With  the  morals  of  the  peo- 
ple, their  industry  also  is  destroyed." 1 

Next  comes  the  Philosophic  Authority.  Here,  while 
the  language  which  I  quote  may  be  less  familiar,  it  is 
hardly  less  commanding.  Among  names  of  such  weight 
I  shall  not  discriminate,  but  simply  follow  the  order 
of  time.  First  is  John  Locke,  the  great  author  of  the 
English  system  of  Intellectual  Philosophy,  who,  though 
once  unhappily  indulgent  to  American  Slavery,  in  an- 
other place  describes  it,  in  words  which  every  Slave- 
Master  should  know,  as  — 

"  The  state  of  war  continued  between  a  lawful  conqueror 
and  a  captive."  "  So  directly  opposite  to  the  generous  tem- 
per and  courage  of  our  nation,  that  't  is  hardly  to  be  con- 

1  Notes  on  Virginia,  Query  XVITL 


THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  165 

ceived  that  an  Englishman,  MUCH  LESS  A  GENTLEMAN,  should 
plead  for  't."  1 

Then  comes  Adam  Smith,  the  founder  of  the  science 
of  Political  Economy,  who,  in  his  work  on  Morals,  thus 
utters  himself:  — 

"  There  is  not  a  negro  from  the  coast  of  Africa  who  does 
not  possess  a  degree  of  magnanimity  which  the  soul  of  his 
sordid  master  is  too  often  scarce  capable  of  conceiving. 
Fortune  never  exerted  more  cruelly  her  empire  over  man- 
kind than  when  she  subjected  those  nations  of  heroes  to  the 
refuse  of  the  jails  of  Europe,  to  wretches  who  possess  the  vir- 
tues neither  of  the  countries  which  they  come  from  nor  of 
those  which  they  go  to,  and  whose  levity,  brutality,  and  base- 
ness so  justly  expose  them  to  the  contempt  of  the  vanquished."  a 

This  judgment,  pronounced  just  a  century  ago,  was 
repelled  by  the  Slave-Masters  of  Virginia  in  a  feeble 
publication,  which  attests  at  least  their  own  conscious- 
ness that  they  were  the  criminals  arraigned  by  the  dis- 
tinguished philosopher.  This  was  soon  followed  by  the 
testimony  of  the  great  English  moralist,  Dr.  Johnson, 
who,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  thus  shows  his  opinion  of 
Slave-Masters :  — 

"  To  omit  for  a  year,-  or  for  a  day,  the  most  efficacious 
method  of  advancing  Christianity,  in  compliance  with  any 
purposes  that  terminate  on  this  side  of  the  grave,  is  a  crime 
of  which  I  know  not  that  the  world  has  yet  had  an  example, 
except  in  the  practice  of  the  planters  of  America,  a  race  of 
mortals  whom,  I  suppose,  no  other  man  wishes  to  resemble."  * 

1  Of  Government,  Book  II.  ch.  4,  Book  I.  ch.  1. 
a  Theory  of  Moral  Sentiments,  Part  V.  ch.  2. 

*  Letter  to  William  Drummond,  August  18, 1766:  Boswell's  Life  of  John- 
son, ed.  Croker,  (London,  1836,)  Vol.  III.  p.  11. 


166         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

These  are  British  voices.  There  are  French  also  of 
equal  character,  whose  is  the  same  implacable  judgment. 
First  I  name  Condorcet,  who  did  so  much  to  develop 
the  idea  of  Human  Progress.  Constantly  he  testifies 
against  Slavery.  His  brand  of  it  as  Barbarism  is  sen- 
tentiously  expressed  in  a  letter  to  Voltaire,  describing 
a  successful  Slave-Master:  — 

"  L'Epreinesnil  is  a  little  American,  who,  by  dint  of  ply- 
ing his  negroes  with  the  lash,  has  succeeded  in  getting 
enough  sugar  and  indigo  to  buy  an  office  of  King's  Coun- 
cillor in  the  revenue  service."  l 

Voltaire  adds  to  this  expression  other  words  kindred 
in  scorn :  — 

"The  American  savage  of  whom  you  speak  does  not 
astonish  me ;  but  he  frightens  me,  for  I  know  beyond  doubt 
that  he  is  of  the  horde  of  other  French  savages  who  have 
sworn  immortal  hate  to  reason." a 

In  harmony  with  these  is  that  famous  irony  of  Mon- 
tesquieu, where,  speaking  of  the  Africans,  he  says  :  — 

"  It  is  impossible  that  we  should  suppose  these  people 
men  ;  because,  if  we  supposed  them  men,  the  world  would 
begin  to  think  that  we  ourselves  were  not  Christians."  * 

Other  countries  might  testify;  but  this  is  enough. 

With  such  authorities,  Personal  and  Philosophic, 
American  and  Foreign,  I  need  not  hesitate  in  this 
ungracious  task;  but  Truth,  which  is  mightier  than 
Mason  and  Jefferson,  than  John  Locke,  Adam  Smith, 
and  Samuel  Johnson,  than  Condorcet,  Voltaire,  and 

1  Condorcet,  (Euvres,  ed.  O'Connor,  Tom.  I.  p.  88,  D6cembre,  1776. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  98,  6  Fdvrier,  1776. 
»  Esprit  des  Lois,  Liv.  XV.  ch.  6. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         167 

Montesquieu,  marshals  the  evidence  in  unbroken  suc- 
cession. 

Proceeding  with  the  argument,  broadening  as  we  ad- 
vance, we  shall  see  Slave-Masters  (1)  in  the  Law  of 
Slavery,  (2)  in  relations  with  Slaves,  (3)  in  relations 
with  each  other  and  with  Society,  and  (4)  in  that  un- 
consciousness which  renders  them  insensible  to  their 
true  character. 

(1.)  As  in  considering  the  Character  of  Slavery,  so 
in  considering  the  Character  of  Slave-Masters,  we  must 
begin  with  the  Law  of  Slavery,  which,  as  their  work, 
testifies  against  them.  In  the  face  of  this  unutterable 
abomination,  where  impiety,  cruelty,  brutality,  and  rob- 
bery all  strive  for  mastery,  it  is  vain  to  assert  human- 
ity or  refinement  in  its  authors.  Full  well  I  know 
that  the  conscience,  which  speaks  so  powerfully  to  the 
solitary  soul,  is  often  silent  in  the  corporate  body,  and 
that,  in  all  ages  and  countries,  numbers,  when  gathered 
in  communities  and  States,  have  sanctioned  acts  from 
which  the  individual  revolts.  And  yet  I  know  no  surer 
way  of  judging  a  people  than  by  its  laws,  especially 
where  those  laws  have  been  long  continued  and  openly 
maintained. 

Whatever  may  be  the  eminence  of  individual  virtue, 
—  and  I  would  not  so  far  disparage  humanity  as  to 
suppose  that  offences  so  general  where  Slavery  exists 
are  universal,  —  it  is  not  reasonable  or  logical  to  infer 
that  the  body  of  Slave-Masters  are  better  than  the  Law 
of  Slavery.  And  since  the  Law  itself  degrades  the 
slave  to  be  a  chattel,  and  submits  him  to  irresponsible 
control,  —  with  power  to  bind  and  to  scourge,  to  usurp 
the  fruits  of  another's  labor,  to  pollute  the  body,  and  to 


168         THE  BARBAEISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

outrage  all  ties  of  family,  making  marriage  impossible, 
—  we  must  conclude  that  such  enormities  are  sanc- 
tioned by  Slave-Masters;  while  the  refusal  of  testi- 
mony, and  the  denial  of  instruction,  by  supplemen- 
tary law,  complete  the  evidence  of  complicity.  And 
this  conclusion  must  stand  unquestioned,  just  so  long 
as  the  Law  of  Slavery  exists  unrepealed.  So  mild  and 
philosophical  a  judge  as  Tocqueville  says,  in  his  author- 
itative work :  "  The  legislation  of  the  Southern  States 
with  regard  to  slaves  at  the  present  day  exhibits  such 
unparalleled  atrocities  as  suffice  to  show  that  the  laws 
of  humanity  have  been  totally  perverted,  and  to  betray 
the  desperate  position  of  the  community  in  which  that 
legislation  has  been  promulgated." l  All  of  which  is  too 
true.  Cease,  then,  to  blazon  the  humanity  of  Slave- 
Masters.  Tell  me  not  of  the  lenity  with  which  this 
cruel  Code  is  tempered  to  its  unhappy  subjects.  Tell 
me  not  of  the  sympathy  which  overflows  from  the  man- 
sion of  the  master  to  the  cabin  of  the  slave.  In  vain 
you  assert  such  "  happy  accidents."  In  vain  you  show 
individuals  who  do  not  exert  the  wickedness  of  the 
law.  The  Barbarism  still  endures,  solemnly,  legisla- 
tively, judicially  attested  in  the  very  SLAVE  CODE,  and 
proclaiming  constantly  the  character  of  its  authors. 
And  this  is  the  first  article  in  the  evidence  against 
Slave-Masters. 

( 2.)  I  am  next  brought  to  Slave-Masters  in  their  re- 
latio'ns  with  Slaves ;  and  here  the  argument  is  founded 
on  facts,  and  on  presumptions  irresistible  as  facts.  Only 
lately  has  inquiry  burst  into  that  gloomy  world  of  bond- 

1  Tocqueville,  Democracy  in  America,  Chap.  XVIII.  :   Situation  of  tht 
Slack  Population. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         169' 

age,  and  disclosed  its  secrets.  But  enough  is  already 
known  to  arouse  the  indignant  condemnation  of  man- 
kind. For  instance,  here  is  a  simple  advertisement — 
one  of  thousands  —  from  the  Georgia  Messenger :  — 

"  RUN  AWAY.  —  My  man  Fountain  ;  has  holes  in  his  ears, 
a  scar  on  the  right  side  of  his  forehead ;  has  been  shot  in 
the  hind  parts  of  his  legs ;  is  marked  on  his  back  with  the 
whip.  Apply  to  Robert  Beasley,  Macon,  Ga." 

Holes  in  the  ears ;  scar  on  the  forehead ;  shot  in  the 
legs ;  and  marks  of  the  lash  on  the  back !  Such  are 
tokens  by  which  the  Slave-Master  identifies  his  slave. 

Here  is  another  advertisement,  revealing  Slave-Mas- 
ters in  a  different  light.  It  is  from  the  National  In- 
telligencer, published  at  the  capital;  and  I  confess  the 
pain  with  which  I  cite  such  an  indecency  in  a  journal 
of  much  respectability.  Of  course  it  appeared  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  editors ;  but  it  is  none  the  less  an 
illustrative  example. 

"  FOB  SALE.  —  An  accomplished  and  handsome  lady's- 
maid.  She  is  just  sixteen  years  of  age;  was  raised  in  a 
genteel  family  in  Maryland ;  and  is  now  proposed  to  be 
sold,  not  for  any  fault,  but  simply  because  the  owner  has  no 
further  use  for  her.  A  note  directed  to  C.  D.,  Gadsby's 
Hotel,  will  receive  prompt  attention." 

A  sated  libertine,  in  a  land  where  vice  is  legalized, 
could  not  expose  his  victim  with  apter  words. 

These  two  instances  illustrate  a  class. 

In  the  recent  work  of  Mr.  Olmsted,  a  close  observer 
and  traveller  in  the  Slave  States,  which  abounds  in  pic- 
tures of  Slavery,  drawn  with  caution  and  evident  regard 
to  truth,  is  another,  where  a  Slave-Master  thus  frankly 
confesses  his  experience :  — 


170  THE   BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

" '  I  can  tell  you  how  you  can  break  a  nigger  of  running 
away,  certain,'  said  the  Slave-Master.  'There  was  an  old 
fellow  I  used  to  know  in  Georgia,  that  always  cured  his  so. 
If  a  nigger  ran  away,  when  he  caught  him,  he  would  bind 
his  knee  over  a  log,  and  fasten  him  so  he  could  n't  stir ; 
then  he  'd  take  a  pair  of  pincers,  and  pull  one  of  his  toe-nails 
out  by  the  roots,  and  tell  him,  that,  if  he  ever  run  away 
again,  he  would  pull  out  two  of  them,  and  if  he  run  away 
again  after  that,  he  told  him  he  'd  pull  out  four  of  them, 
and  so  on,  doubling  each  time.  He  never  had  to  do  it 
more  than  twice ;  it  always  cured  them.' " l 

Like  this  story,  from  the  lips  of  a  Slave-Master,  is 
another,  where  the  master,  angry  because  his  slave 
sought  to  regain  his  God-given  liberty,  deliberately  cut 
the  tendons  of  his  heel,  thus  horribly  maiming  him  for 
life. 

In  vain  these  instances  are  denied.  Their  accumu- 
lating number,  authenticated  in  every  possible  manner, 
by  the  press,  by  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  and  by  the  con- 
fession of  Slave-Masters,  stares  us  constantly  in  the 
face. 

Here  we  are  brought  again  to  the  Slave  Code,  under 
the  shelter  of  which  these  things,  and  worse,  are  done 
with  complete  impunity.  Listen  to  the  remarkable 
words  of  Mr.  Justice  Euffin,  of  North  Carolina,  who, 
in  a  solemn  decision,  thus  portrays,  affirms,  and  de- 
plores this  terrible  latitude.  The  obedience  of  the  slave, 
he  says,  — 

"  is  the  consequence  only  of  uncontrolled  authority  over 

the  body The  power  of  the  master  must  be  absolute,  to 

render  the  submission  of  the  slave  perfect.     I  most  freely  con- 
fess my  sense  of  the  harshness  of  this  proposition.     I  feel 

1  Journey  through  Texas,  by  Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  p.  106. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.          171 

it  as  deeply  as  any  man  can.  And,  as  a  principle  of  moral 
right,  every  person  in  his  retirement  must  repudiate  it. 
But  in  the  actual  condition  of  things  it  must  be  so.  There 
is  no  remedy.  This  discipline  belongs  to  the  state  of  Slav- 
ery. ....  It  is  inherent  in  the  relation  of  master  and 
slave."  l 

This  same  license  is  thus  expounded  in  a  recent  ju- 
dicial decision  of  Virginia :  — 

"  It  is  the  policy  of  the  law  in  respect  to  the  relation  of 
master  and  slave,  and  for  the  sake  of  securing  proper  subor- 
dination and  obedience  on  the  part  of  the  slave,  to  protect  the 
master  from  prosecution,  even  if  the  whipping  and  punishment 
be  malicious,  cruel,  and  excessive."  a 

Can  Barbarism  further  go?  Here  is  irresponsible 
power,  rendered  more  irresponsible  still  by  the  seclusion 
of  the  plantation,  and  absolutely  fortified  by  supple- 
mentary law  excluding  the  testimony  of  slaves.  That 
under  its  shelter  enormities  should  occur,  stranger  than 
fiction,  too  terrible  for  imagination,  and  surpassing  any 
attested  experience,  is  simply  according  to  the  course  of 
Nature  and  the  course  of  history.  Antiquity  has  illus- 
trations which  are  most  painful.  From  Ovid  we  learn 
how  the  porter  was  chained  at  his  master's  gate ; 8  by 
Plautus  we  are  introduced  to  the  various  instruments 
of  punishment,  in  fearful  catalogue ;  *  and  in  the  pages 
of  the  philosopher  Seneca  we  are  saddened  by  the 
cruelties  of  which  the  slave  was  victim.6  A  later  writ- 
er, the  great  teacher  of  medicine,  Galen,  describes  men 

1  The  State  v.  Mann,  2  Devereux,  North  Carolina  Reports,  266,  267. 
«  Souther  v.  The  Commonwealth,  7  Grattan,  680. 
»  Amoram  Lib.  I.  Eleg.  VI.  1. 
4  Asinaria,  Act.  III.  Sc.  iL  4,  5. 
*  Epist,  XL VII. 


172          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

knocking  out  the  teeth  of  slaves  with  the  fist,  falling 
upon  them  not  only  with  fist,  but  with  the  heels,  and 
gouging  the  eyes  with  a  pen,  if  at  hand,  as  did  the  Em- 
peror Adrian  on  one  occasion ; l  while  Tacitus  shows  how 
four  hundred  slaves  in  the  house  of  an  assassinated 
master  were  handed  over  to  vindictive  death.2  St. 
Chrysostom  portrays  a  mistress  dragging  a  slave-girl 
by  the  hair,  and  herself  applying  the  whip,  until  the 
cries  of  her  bruised  victim  filled  the  whole  house  and 
penetrated  the  street.8 

All  this  is  ancient  Barbarism,  according  to  the  evi- 
dence ;  but  the  analogies  of  life  show  that  such  things 
must  be,  where  Slavery  prevails.  The  visitation  of  the 
abbeys  in  England  disclosed  vice  and  disorder  in  start- 
ling forms,  cloaked  by  the  irresponsible  privacy  of  mo- 
nastic life.  A  similar  visitation  of  plantations  would 
disclose  more  fearful  results,  cloaked  by  the  irrespon- 
sible privacy  of  Slavery.  Every  Slave-Master  on  his 
plantation  is  a  Bashaw,  with  all  the  prerogatives  of  a 
Turk.  According  to  Hobbes,  he  is  a  "  petty  king."  This 
is  true ;  and  every  plantation  is  of  itself  a  petty  king- 
dom, with  more  than  the  immunities  of  an  abbey.  Six 
thousand  skulls  of  infants  are  reported  to  have  been 
taken  from  a  single  fish-pond  near  a  nunnery,  to  the 
dismay  of  Pope  Gregory.4  Under  the  Law  of  Slavery, 

1  De  Animi  Affectuum  Dignotione  et  Curatione,  Cap.  IV.:   Opera,  ed. 
Kiihn,  Tom.  V.  p.  17. 

2  Annal.  Lib.  XIV.  capp.  42  -  45.    See  the  memoir  of  M.  de  Burigny,  Sur 
let  Esclaves  Romains:  M4moires  de  l'Acade"mie  des  Inscriptions,  1764  - 1766, 
Tom.  XXXV.  pp.  328-359. 

•  In  Epist.  ad  Ephes.  Homil.  XV.  3. 

4  "  Memorabile  quod  Ulricas  epistola  refert,  Gregorium,  qunm  ex  piscina 
quadam  allata  plus  quam  sex  mille  infantum  capita  vidisset,  ingemuisse." 
—  BURTON,  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  Part  III.  Sec.  2,  Mem.  5,  Subs.  5.  He 
quotes  Kemnicius,  Examen  Condi.  Trident.,  Pars  Iff.,  De  Ctelibatu  Sacer- 
dotum. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         173 

infants,  the  offspring  of  masters  "  who  dream  of  Free- 
dom in  a  slave's  embrace,"  are  not  thrown  into  a  fish- 
pond, but  something  worse  is  done.  They  are  sold. 
This  is  a  single  glimpse  only.  Slavery,  in  its  recesses, 
is  another  Bastile,  whose  horrors  will  never  be  known 
until  it  shall  be  razed  to  the  ground;  it  is  the  dismal 
castle  of  Giant  Despair,  which,  when  captured  by  the 
Pilgrims,  excited  their  wonder,  as  they  saw  "  the  dead 
bodies  that  lay  here  and  there  in  the  castle-yard,  and 
how  full  of  dead  men's  bones  the  dungeon  was."  The 
recorded  horrors  of  Slavery  are  infinite,  and  each  day, 
by  the  escape  of  its  victims,  they  are  still  further  attest- 
ed, while  the  door  of  the  vast  prison-house  is  left  ajar. 
But,  alas  !  unless  examples  of  history  and  lessons  of  po- 
litical wisdom  are  alike  delusive,  its  unrecorded  hor- 
rors must  assume  a  form  of  more  fearful  dimensions. 
Baffling  all  attempts  at  description,  they  sink  into  that 
chapter  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne  entitled  "  Of  some  Re- 
lations whose  Truth  we  fear,"  and  among  kindred  things 
whereof,  according  to  this  eloquent  philosopher,  "  there 
remains  no  register  but  that  of  HelL" 

If  this  picture  of  the  relations  of  Slave-Masters 
with  their  slaves  could  receive  any  darker  coloring,  it 
would  be  by  introducing  figures  of  the  congenial  agents 
through  which  the  Barbarism  is  maintained,  —  the  Slave- 
Overseer,  the  Slave-Breeder,  and  the  Slave-Hunter,  each 
without  a  peer  except  in  the  brothers,  and  the  whole 
constituting  a  triumvirate  of  Slavery,  in  whom  its 
essential  brutality,  vulgarity,  and  crime  are  all  em- 
bodied. There  is  the  Slave-Overseer,  with  bloody  lash, 
—  fitly  described,  in  his  Life  of  Patrick  Henry,  by  Mr. 
Wirt,  who,  born  in  a  Slave  State,  knew  the  class,  as 


174          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

"  last  and  lowest,  most  abject,  degraded,  unprincipled," l 
—  and  his  hands  wield  at  will  the  irresponsible  power, 
being  proper  successor  to  "  the  devil,"  described  by  the 
English  dramatist,  who  appeared 

"  in  Virginia,  and  commanded 
With  many  stripes;  for  that 's  his  cruel  custom."  2 

There  is  next  the  Slave-Breeder,  who  assumes  a  high- 
er character,  even  entering  legislative  halls,  where,  in 
unconscious  insensibility,  he  shocks  civilization  by  de- 
nying, like  Mr.  Gholson,  of  Virginia,  any  alleged  dis- 
tinction between  the  "female  slave"  and  the  "brood 
mare,"  by  openly  asserting  the  necessary  respite  from 
work  during  the  gestation  of  the  female  slave  as  the 
ground  of  property  in  her  offspring,  and  by  proclaiming 
that  in  this  "vigintial"  crop  of  human  flesh  consists 
much  of  the  wealth  of  his  State,  —  while  another  Vir- 
ginian, not  yet  hardened  to  this  debasing  trade,  whose 
annual  sacrifice  reaches  twenty-five  thousand  human 
souls,  confesses  the  indignation  and  shame  with  which 
he  beholds  his  State  "  converted  into  one  grand  menag- 
erie, where  men  are  reared  for  the  market,  like  oxen  for 
the  shambles."  Verily  the  question  may  be  asked,  Have 
we  a  Guinea  among  us  ?  And,  lastly,  there  is  the  Slave- 
Hunter,  with  the  bloodhound  as  his  brutal  symbol,  who 
pursues  slaves  as  the  hunter  pursues  game,  and  does 
not  hesitate  in  the  public  prints  to  advertise  his  Bar- 
barism thus  :  — 

"  BLOODHOUNDS.  —  I  have  TWO  of  the  FINEST 
DOGS  for  CATCHING  NEGROES  in  the  Southwest.  They 
can  take  the  trail  TWELVE  HOURS  after  the  NEGRO 
HAS  PASSED,  and  catch  him  with  ease.  I  live  four  miles 

1  Life  and  Character  of  Patrick  Henry,  Sec.  II.  p.  34. 

2  Massinger,  The  City  Madam,  Act  V.  sc.  1. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         175 

southwest  of  Bolivar,  on  the  road  leading  from  Bolivar  to 
Whitesville.  I  am  ready  at  all  times  to  catch  runaway 
negroes. 

"DAVID  TURNER. 
"March  2,  1853." » 

The  bloodhound  was  known  in  early  Scottish  his- 
tory; it  was  once  vindictively  put  upon  the  trail  of 
Kobert  Bruce,  and  in  barbarous  days,  by  cruel  license 
of  war,  was  directed  against  the  marauders  of  the  Scot- 
tish border.  Walter  Scott  makes  one  of  his  heroes 
"  cheer  the  dark  blood-hound  on  his  way  " ;  but  more 
than  a  century  has  passed  since  the  last  survivor  of  the 
race  was  seen  in  Ettrick  Forest.2  The  bloodhound  was 
employed  by  Spain  against  the  natives  of  this  continent, 
and  the  eloquence  of  Chatham  never  touched  a  truer 
chord  than  when,  gathering  force  from  the  condemna- 
tion of  this  brutality,  he  poured  his  thunder  upon  the 
kindred  brutality  of  the  scalping-knife,  adopted  as  an 
instrument  of  war  by  a  nation  professing  civilization. 
Tardily  introduced  into  this  Eepublic  some  time  after 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  when  Slavery  became  a  po- 
litical passion  and  Slave-Masters  began  to  throw  aside 
all  disguise,  the  bloodhound  has  become  the  represen- 
tative of  our  Barbarism,  when  engaged  in  the  pursuit 
of  a  fellow-man  asserting  his  inborn  title  to  himself; 
and  this  brute  becomes  typical  of  the  whole  brutal 
leash  of  Slave-Hunters,  who,  whether  at  home  on  Slave 
Soil,  under  the  name  of  Slave-Catchers  and  Kidnappers, 
or  at  a  distance,  under  politer  names,  insult  Human 
Nature  by  the  enforcement  of  this  Barbarism. 

1  West  Tennessee  Democrat. 

2  Scott,  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,  Notes,  Canto  V.  st  29. 


176         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

(3.)  From  this  dreary  picture  of  Slave-Masters  with 
their  slaves  and  their  triumvirate  of  vulgar  instruments, 
I  pass  to  another  more  dreary  still,  and  more  complete- 
ly exposing  the  influence  of  Slavery :  I  mean  the  re- 
lations of  Slave-Masters  with  each  other,  also  with  Society 
and  Government,  —  or,  in  other  words,  the  Character  of 
Slave-Masters,  as  displayed  in  the  general  relations  of 
life.  Here  again  I  need  your  indulgence.  Not  in 
triumph  or  in  taunt  do  I  approach  this  branch  of  the 
subject.  Yielding  only  to  the  irresistible  exigency  of 
the  discussion",  and  in  direct  reply  to  the  assump- 
tions on  this  floor,  especially  by  the  Senator  from  Vir- 
ginia [Mr.  MASON],  I  proceed.  If  I  touch  Slavery  to 
the  quick,  and  make  Slave-Masters  see  themselves  as 
others  see  them,  I  shall  do  nothing  beyond  the  strictest 
line  of  duty  in  this  debate. 

One  of  the  choicest  passages  of  the  master  Italian 
poet,  Dante,  is  where  we  are  permitted  to  behold  a 
passage  of  transcendent  virtue  sculptured  in  "visible 
speech"  on  the  long  gallery  leading  to  the  Heavenly 
Gate.  The  poet  felt  the  inspiration  of  the  scene,  and 
placed  it  on  the  wayside,  where  it  could  charm  and 
encourage.  This  was  natural  Nobody  can  look  upon 
virtue  and  justice,  if  only  in  images  and  pictures,  with- 
out feeling  a  kindred  sentiment.  Nobody  can  be  sur- 
rounded by  vice  and  wrong,  by  violence  and  brutality, 
if  only  in  images  and  pictures,  without  coming  under 
their  degrading  influence.  Nobody  can  live  with  the 
one  without  advantage ;  nobody  can  live  with  the  other 
without  loss.  Who  could  pass  life  in  the  secret  cham- 
ber where  are  gathered  the  impure  relics  of  Pompeii, 
without  becoming  indifferent  to  loathsome  things  ?  But 
if  these  loathsome  things  are  not  merely  sculptured  and 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.          177 

painted,  —  if  they  exist  in  living  reality, — if  they  en- 
act their  hideous,  open  indecencies,  as  in  the  criminal 
pretensions  of  Slavery,  —  while  the  lash  plays  and  the 
blood  spurts,  —  while  women  are  whipped  and  children 
are  sold, — while  marriage  is  polluted  and  annulled, — 
while  the  parental  tie  is  rudely  torn,  —  while  honest 
gains  are  filched  or  robbed,  —  while  the  soul  itself  is 
shut  down  in  all  the  darkness  of  ignorance,  and  God 
himself  is  defied  in  the  pretension  that  man  can  have 
property  in  his  fellow-man,  —  if  all  these  things  are 
"visible,"  not  merely  in  images  and  pictures,  but  in 
reality,  the  influence  on  character  must  be  incalcula- 
bly deplorable. 

According  to  irresistible  law  men  are  fashioned  by 
what  is  about  them,  whether  climate,  scenery,  life,*  or 
institutions.  Like  produces  like,  and  this  ancient  prov- 
erb is  verified  always.  Look  at  the  miner,  delving  low 
down  in  darkness,  and  the  mountaineer,  ranging  on  airy 
heights,  and  you  will  see  a  contrast  in  character,  and 
even  in  personal  form.  The  difference  between  a  cow- 
ard and  a  hero  may  be  traced  in  the  atmosphere  which 
each  has  breathed,  —  and  how  much  more  in  the  institu- 
tions under  which  each  is  reared  !  If  institutions  gen- 
erous and  just  ripen  souls  also  generous  and  just,  then 
other  institutions  must  exhibit  their  influence  also. 
Violence,  brutality,  injustice,  barbarism,  must  be  repro- 
duced in  the  lives  of  all  living  within  their  fatal  sphere. 
The  meat  eaten  by  man  enters  into  and  becomes  part 
of  his  body ;  the  madder  eaten  by  the  dog  changes  his 
bones  to  red ;  and  the  Slavery  on  which  men  live,  in  all 
its  fivefold  foulness,  must  become  part  of  themselves, 
discoloring  the  very  soul,  blotting  the  character,  and 
breaking  forth  in  moral  leprosy.  This  language  is 

VOL.  VI.  — 12 


178         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

strong,  but  the  evidence  is  even  stronger.  Some  there 
may  be  of  happy  natures  —  like  honorable  Senators  — 
who  can  thus  feed  and  not  be  harmed.  Mithridates  fed 
on  poison,  and  lived.  It  may  be  that  there  is  a  moral 
Mithridates,  who  can  swallow  without  bane  the  poison 
of  Slavery. 

Instead  of  "  ennobling  "  the  master,  nothing  is  clearer 
than  that  the  slave  drags  his  master  down;  and  this 
process,  beginning  in  childhood,  is  continued  through 
life.  Living  much  in  association  with  his  slave,  the 
master  finds  nothing  to  remind  him  of  his  own  deficien- 
cies, to  prompt  his  ambition  or  excite  his  shame.  He 
is  only  a  little  better  than  his  predecessor  in  ancient 
Germany,  as  described  by  Tacitus,  who  was  distinguish- 
able from  his  slave  by  none  of  the  charms  of  education, 
while  the  two  burrowed  among  the  same  flocks  and  in 
the  same  ground.1  Without  provocation  to  virtue,  or 
elevating  example,  he  naturally  shares  the  Barbarism 
of  the  society  he  keeps.  Thus  the  very  inferiority 
which  the  Slave-Master  attributes  to  the  African  ex- 
plains the  melancholy  condition  of  the  communities  in 
which  his  degradation  is  declared  by  law. 

A  single  false  principle  or  vicious  thought  may  de- 
base a  character  otherwise  blameless ;  and  this  is  prac- 
tically true  of  the  Slave-Master.  Accustomed  to  regard 
men  as  property,  the  sensibilities  are  blunted  and  the 
moral  sense  is  obscured.  He  consents  to  acts  from 
which  Civilization  recoils.  The  early  Church  sacrificed 
its  property,  and  even  its  sacred  vessels,  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  captives.  On  a  memorable  occasion  this  was 
done  by  St.  Ambrose,2  and  successive  canons  confirmed 

1  "  Dominum  ac  servnm  irallis  edncationis  deliciis  dignoscas.     Inter 
eadem  pecora,  in  eadem  humo  degunt."  —  Germania,  c.  20. 

2  Butler,  Lives  of  the  Saints,  Vol.  XII.  p.  114. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         179 

the  example.  But  in  the  Slave  States  all  is  reversed. 
Slaves  there  are  hawked  as  property  of  the  Church 1 ; 
and  an  instance  is  related  of  a  slave  sold  in  South  Caro- 
lina to  buy  plate  for  the  communion-table.  Who  can 
estimate  the  effect  of  such  an  example  ? 

Surrounded  by  pernicious  influences  of  all  kinds,  pos- 
itive and  negative,  the  first  making  him  do  that  which 
he  ought  not  to  do,  and  the  second  making  him  leave 
undone  that  which  he  ought  to  have  done,  —  through 
childhood,  youth,  and  manhood,  even  unto  age,  —  un- 
able, while  at  home,  to  escape  these  influences,  over- 
shadowed constantly  by  the  portentous  Barbarism  about 
him,  the  Slave-Master  naturally  adopts  the  bludgeon, 
the  revolver,  and  the  bowie-knife.  Through  these  he 
governs  his  plantation,  and  secretly  armed  with  these 
enters  the  world.  These  are  his  congenial  compan- 
ions. To  wear  these  is  his  pride ;  to  use  them  becomes 
a  passion,  almost  a  necessity.  Nothing  contributes  to 
violence  so  much  as  wearing  the  instruments  of  vio- 
lence, thus  having  them  always  at  hand  to  obey  a  law- 
less instinct.  A  barbarous  standard  is  established ; 
the  duel  is  not  dishonorable ;  a  contest  peculiar  to  our 
Slave-Masters,  known  as  a  "street  fight,"  is  not  shame- 
ful ;  and  modern  imitators  of  Cain  have  a  mark  set 
upon  them,  not  for  reproach  and  condemnation,  but  for 
compliment  and  approval.  In  kindred  spirit,  the  Count 
of  Eisenburg,  presenting  to  Erasmus  a  handsome  dagger, 
called  it  "  the  pen  with  which  he  used  to  combat  saucy 

1  This  is  a  natural  incident  of  Slavery.  Bishop  Warburton,  in  a  sermon 
before  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  re- 
counts how  "  a  very  worthy  benefactor  bequeathed  unto  us  in  trust,  for  the 
propagation  of  the  Gospel,  a  plantation  stocked  with  slaves,"  and  he  ex- 
claims, "  An  odd  legacy  to  the  promulgators  of  the  Law  of  Liberty !  "  — 
Sermon  XX.:  Works,  (London,  1811,)  Vol.  X.  p.  68. 


180          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

fellows. " l  How  weak  that  dagger  against  the  pen  of 
Erasmus !  I  wish  to  keep  within  bounds ;  but  unan- 
swerable facts,  accumulating  in  fearful  quantities,  attest 
that  the  social  system  so  much  vaunted  by  honorable 
Senators,  which  we  are  now  asked  to  sanction  and 
extend,  takes  its  character  from  this  spirit,  and,  with 
professions  of  Christianity  on  the  lips,  becomes  Cain- 
like.  And  this  is  aggravated  by  the  prevailing  igno- 
rance in  the  Slave  States,  where  one  in  five  of  the 
adult  white  population  of  native  birth  is  unable  to  read 
and  write. 

"  The  boldest  they  who  least  partake  the  light, 
As  game-cocks  in  the  dark  are  trained  to  fight." 

There  are  exceptions,  which  we  all  gladly  recognize ; 
but  it  is  this  spirit  which  predominates  and  gives  the 
social  law.  Again  we  see  the  lordlings  of  France,  as 
pictured  by  Camille  Desmoulins,  "  ordinarily  very  fee- 
ble in  arguments,  since  from  the  cradle  they  are  accus- 
tomed to  use  their  will  as  right  hand  and  their  reason 
as  left  hand."  2  Violence  ensues.  And  here  mark  an 
important  difference.  Elsewhere  violence  shows  itself 
in  spite  of  law,  whether  social  or  statute ;  in  the  Slave 
States  it  is  because  of  law,  both  social  and  statute.  Else- 
where it  is  pursued  and  condemned ;  in  the  Slave 
States  it  is  adopted  and  honored.  Elsewhere  it  is 
hunted  as  a  crime ;  in  the  Slave  States  it  takes  its  place 
among  the  honorable  graces  of  society. 

Let  not  these  harsh  statements  stand  on  my  author- 
ity. Listen  to  the  testimony  of  two  Governors  of  Slave 
States  in  messages  to  their  respective  Legislatures. 

Said  the  Governor  of  Kentucky,  in  1837  :  — 

1  Jortin,  Life  of  Erasmus,  A.  D.  1532,  ^Etat.  65,  Vol.  II.  p.  31. 

2  Louis  Blanc,  Histoire  dela  Revolution  Francaise,  Tom.  V.  p.  200. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         181 

"  We  long  to  see  the  day  when  the  law  will  assert  its 
majesty,  and  stop  the  wanton  destruction  of  life  which  al- 
most daily  occurs  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Common- 
wealth. Men  slaughter  each  other  with  almost  perfect  impuni- 
ty. A  species  of  Common  Law  has  grown  up  in  Kentucky, 
which,  were  it  written  down,  would,  in  all  civilized  coun- 
tries, cause  it  to  be  re-christened,  in  derision,  the  Land  of 
Blood? 

Such  was  the  official  confession  of  a  Slave-Master, 
Governor  of  Kentucky.  And  here  is  the  official  con- 
fession made  the  same  year  by  the  Slave-Master  Gover- 
nor of  Alabama :  — 

"We  hear  of  homicides  in  different  parts  of  the  State 
continually,  and  yet  have  few  convictions,  and  still  fewer 
executions.  Why  do  we  hear  of  stabbings  and  shootings 
almost  daily  in  some  part  or  other  of  our  State?" 

A  land  of  blood !  Stabbings  and  shootings  almost 
daily !  Such  is  official  language.  It  was  natural  that 
contemporary  newspapers  should  repeat  what  found 
utterance  in  high  places.  Here  is  the  confession  of  a 
newspaper  in  Mississippi:  — 

"  The  moral  atmosphere  in  our  State  appears  to  be  in  a 
deleterious  and  sanguinary  condition.  Almost  every  exchange 
paper  which  reaches  us  contains  some  inhuman  and  revolting 
case  of  murder  or  death  by  violence" 1 

Here  is  another  confession,  by  a  newspaper  in  New 
Orleans :  — 

"  In  view  of  the  crimes  which  are  daily  committed,  we  are 
led  to  inquire  whether  it  is  owing  to  the  inefficiency  of  our 
laws,  or  to  the  manner  in  which  these  laws  are  administered, 

1  Grand  Gulf  Advertiser,  June  27, 1837. 


182  THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY. 

that  this  frightful  deluge  of  human  blood  flows  through  our 
streets  and  our  places  of  public  resort"  l 

And  here  is  testimony  of  a  different  character :  — 
"  As  I  left  my  native  State  on  account  of  Slavery,  and 
deserted  the  home  of  my  fathers  to  escape  the  sound  of  the 
lash  and  the  shrieks  of  tortured  victims,  I  would  gladly 
bury  in  oblivion  the  recollection  of  those  scenes  with  which 
I  have  been  familiar ;  but  this  may  not,  cannot  be."  2 

These  are  the  words  of  a  Southern  lady,  daughter  of  the 
accomplished  Judge  Grimke,  of  South  Carolina. 

A  catalogue  of  affrays  between  politicians,  commonly 
known  as  "  street  fights,"  —  I  use  the  phrase  furnished 
by  the  land  of  Slavery,  —  would  show  that  these  author- 
ities are  not  mistaken.  That  famous  Dutch  picture,  ad- 
mired particularly  from  successful  engraving,  and  called 
The  Knife-Fighters,3  presents  a  scene  less  revolting  than 
one  of  these.  Two  or  more  men,  armed  to  the  teeth, 
meet  in  the  streets,  at  a  court-house,  or  a  tavern,  shoot 
at  each  other  with  revolvers,  then  gash  each  other  with 
knives,  close,  and  roll  upon  the  ground,  covered  with 
dirt  and  blood,  struggling  and  stabbing,  till  death,  pros- 
tration, or  surrender  puts  an  end  to  the  conflict.  Each 
instance  tells  its  shameful  story,  and  cries  out  against 
the  social  system  tolerating  such  Barbarism.  A  cata- 
logue of  duels  would  testify  again  to  the  reckless  dis- 
regard of  life  where  Slavery  exists,  while  it  exhibited 
Violence  flaunting  in  the  garb  of  Honor,  and  prating  of 
a  barbarous  code  disowned  equally  by  reason  and  re- 

1  New  Orleans  Bee,  May  23,  1838. 

2  Narrative  and  Testimony  of  Sarah  M.  Grimke",  found  in  the  remarkable 
contribution  to  the   Antislavery  cause  by  Theodore  D.  Weld,  American 
Slavery  as  it  is,  Testimony  of  a  Thousand  Witnesses,  p.  22. 

8  There  are  two  different  pictures  of  this  early  scene,  —  one  by  Terburg, 
and  the  other  by  Adrian  van  Ostade,—  both  engraved  by  Suyderhoef. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.          183 

ligion.  But  you  have  already  surfeited  with  horrors, 
and  I  hasten  on. 

Ancient  Civilization  did  not  condemn  assassination. 
Statues  were  raised  to  Harmodius  and  Aristogeiton, 
who  slew  Hipparchus.  Brutus  and  Cassius  were  glori- 
fied. Modern  Civilization  judges  otherwise;  but  Slav- 
ery, not  content  with  the  Duel,  which  was  unknown  to 
Antiquity,  rejoices  in  assassinations  also,  —  rejoices  in 
both. 

Pardon  me,  if  I  stop  for  one  moment  to  expose  and 
denounce  the  Duel.  I  do  it  only  because  it  belongs  to 
the  brood  of  Slavery.  Long  ago  an  enlightened  Civil- 
ization rejected  this  relic  of  Barbarism,  and  never  was 
one  part  of  the  argument  against  it  put  more  senten- 
tiously  than  by  Franklin.  "  A  duel  decides  nothing," 
said  this  patriot  philosopher ;  and  the  person  appealing 
to  it  "makes  himself  judge  in  his  own  cause,  condemns 
the  offender  without  a  jury,  and  undertakes  himself  to 
be  the  executioner." l  To  these  emphatic  words  I  add 
two  brief  propositions,  which,  if  practically  adopted, 
make  the  Duel  impossible :  first,  that  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  wrong,  with  apology  or  explanation,  can  never 
be  otherwise  than  honorable ;  and,  secondly,  that,  in  the 
absence  of  such  acknowledgment,  no  wrong  can  be  re- 
paired by  gladiatorial  contest,  where  brute  force,  or  skill, 
or  chance  must  decide  the  day.  Iron  and  adamant  are 
not  stronger  than  these  arguments ;  nor  can  any  one 
attempt  an  answer  without  exposing  his  feebleness. 
And  yet  Slave-Masters,  disregarding  its  irrational  char- 
acter, insensible  to  its  folly,  heedless  of  its  impiety,  and 
unconscious  of  its  Barbarism,  openly  adopt  the  Duel  as 

l  Letter  to  Thomas  Percival,  July  17,  1784:  Work*,  ed.  Sparks,  Vol.  X. 
p.  108. 


184         THE  BARBAKISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

regulator  of  manners  and  conduct.  Two  voices  from 
South  Carolina  have  been  raised  against  it,  and  I  men- 
tion them  with  gladness  as  testimony  from  that  land 
of  Slavery.  The  first  was  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinck- 
ney,  who,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic,  after  asking 
if  there  were  "no  way  of  abolishing  throughout  the 
Union  this  absurd  and  barbarous  custom,"  invoked  the 
clergy  of  his  State,  "  as  a  particular  favor,  at  some 
convenient  early  day,  to  preach  a  sermon  on  the  sin 
and  folly  of  duelling." l  The  other  was  Mr.  Rhett,  who, 
on  this  floor,  openly  declared,  as  his  reason  for  declining 
the  Duel,  "  that  he  feared  God  more  than  man."  2  Gen- 
erous words,  for  which  many  errors  will  be  pardoned. 
But  these  voices  condemn  the  social  system  of  which 
the  Duel  is  a  natural  product. 

Looking  at  the  broad  surface  of  society  where  Slavery 
exists,  we  find  its  spirit  actively  manifest  against  all 
freedom  of  speech  and  the  press,  especially  with  regard 
to  this  wrong.  Nobody  in  the  Slave  States  can  speak 
or  print  plainly  about  Slavery,  except  at  peril  of  life  or 
liberty ;  and  a  curious  instance  shows  how  this  same 
spirit  is  carried  by  our  Slave-Masters  into  foreign  lands. 
As  early  as  1789,  and  in  Paris,  a  poor  play,3  where 
Slavery  was  painted  truthfully,  excited  the  hostility  of 
what  Baron  Grimm,  who  reports  the  incident,  calls  "  an 
American  cabal,"  so  that  its  failure  was  attributed  by 
some  to  this  influence,  being  the  early  prototype  of 
that  so  strong  among  us.  St.  Paul  could  call  upon  the 
people  of  Athens  to  give  up  the  worship  of  unknown 

1  Sabine,  Notes  on  Duels  and  Duelling,  pp.  322,  324. 

2  Speech  in  the  Senate,  February  28, 1852:  Congressional  Globe,  32d  Cong. 
1st  Sess.,  p.  656. 

8  L'Esclavage  des  Negres,  ou  1'Heureux  Naufrage.  See  Grimm,  Corre- 
spondance,  Tom.  XVI.  pp.  328,  329,  De'cembre,  1789. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.          185 

gods ;  he  could  live  in  his  own  hired  house  at  Rome, 
and  preach  Christianity  in  this  Heathen  metropolis ; 
but  no  man  can  be  heard  against  Slavery  in  Charles- 
ton or  Mobile.  We  condemn  the  Inquisition,  which 
subjects  all  within  its  influence  to  censorship  and  se- 
cret judgment ;  but  this  tyranny  is  repeated  in  Ameri- 
can Slave-Masters.  Truths  as  simple  as  the  great 
discovery  of  Galileo  are  openly  denied,  and  all  who 
declare  them  are  driven  to  recant.  We  condemn  the 
"  Index  Expurgatorius "  of  the  Roman  Church ;  but 
American  Slave-Masters  have  an  Index  where  are  in- 
scribed all  the  generous  books  of  the  age.  One  book, 
the  marvel  of  recent  literature,  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin," 
is  treated  thus  by  the  Church  as  by  Slave-Masters, 
being  honored  by  the  same  suppression  at  the  Vatican 
as  at  Charleston. 

Not  to  dwell  on  these  instances,  there  is  one  which 
has  a  most  instructive  ridiculousness.  A  religious  dis- 
course of  the  late  Dr.  Channing  on  West  India  Eman- 
cipation —  the  last  effort  of  his  beautiful  life  —  was 
offered  for  sale  by  a  book  agent  at  Charleston.  A  pros- 
ecution by  the  South  Carolina  Association  ensued,  and 
the  agent  was  held  to  bail  in  the  sum  of  one  thousand 
dollars.  Shortly  afterward,  the  same  agent  received  for 
sale  a  work  by  Dickens,  "American  Notes,"  freshly  pub- 
lished ;  but,  determined  not  to  expose  himself  again  to 
the  tyrannical  Inquisition,  he  gave  notice  through  the 
newspapers  that  the  book  would  "be  submitted  to 
highly  intelligent  members  of  the  South  Carolina  Asso- 
ciation for  inspection,  and  if  the  sale  is  approved  by 
them,  it  will  be  for  sale,  —  if  not,  not."  1 

1  Address  to  the  Inhabitants  of  New  Mexico  and  California,  by  William 
Jay :  Miscellaneous  Writings,  p.  636. 


186         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Listen  also  to  another  recent  instance,  as  recounted 
in  the  "  Montgomery  Mail,"  a  newspaper  of  Alabama. 

"  Last  Saturday  we  devoted  to  the  flames  a  large  number 
of  copies  of  Spurgeon's  Sermons,  and  the  pile  was  graced  at 
the  top  with  a  copy  of  '  Graves's  Great  Iron  Wheel,'  which 
a  Baptist  friend  presented  for  the  purpose.  We  trust  that 
the  works  of  the  greasy  cockney  vociferator  may  receive  the 
same  treatment  throughout  the  South.  And  if  the  Phari- 
saical author  should  ever  show  himself  in  these  parts,  we 
trust  that  a  stout  cord  may  speedily  find  its  way  around  his 
eloquent  throat.  He  has  proved  himself  a  dirty,  low-bred 
slanderer,  and  ought  to  be  treated  accordingly." 

Very  recently  we  had  the  opportunity  of  reading  in 
the  journals,  that  the  trustees  of  a  college  in  Alabama 
resolved  against  Dr.  Wayland's  admirable  work  on 
Moral  Science,  as  containing  "  Abolition  doctrine  of  the 
deepest  dye,"  and  proceeded  to  denounce  "  the  said 
book,  and  forbid  its  further  use  in  the  Institute." 

The  speeches  of  Wilberforce  in  the  British  Par- 
liament, and  especially  those  magnificent  efforts  of 
Brougham,  where  he  exposed  "  the  wild  and  guilty  fan- 
tasy that  man  can  hold  property  in  man,"  were  insanely 
denounced  by  the  British  planters  in  the  West  Indies ; 
but  our  Slave-Masters  go  further.  Speeches  delivered 
in  the  Senate  are  stopped  at  the  Post-Office;  booksel- 
lers receiving  them  have  been  mobbed ;  and  on  at  least 
one  occasion  the  speeches  were  solemnly  proceeded 
against  by  a  Grand  Jury.1 

All  this  is  natural,  for  tyranny  is  condemned  to  be 
consistent  with  itself.  Proclaim  Slavery  a  permanent 
institution,  instead  of  a  temporary  Barbarism,  soon  to 

1  This  was  the  case  with  Mr.  Sumner's  gpeech,  "  The  Crime  against  Kan- 
sas." More  than  one  person  found  with  a  copy  of  this  speech  was  com- 
pelled to  flee. 


THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  187 

pass  away,  and  then,  by  the  unhesitating  logic  of  self- 
preservation,  all  things  must  yield  to  its  support.  The 
safety  of  Slavery  becomes  the  supreme  law.  And  since 
Slavery  is  endangered  by  Liberty  in  any  form,  therefore 
all  Liberty  must  be  restrained.  Such  is  the  philoso- 
phy of  this  seeming  paradox  in  a  Kepublic.  And  our 
Slave-Masters  show  themselves  apt.  Violence  and  bru- 
tality are  their  ready  instruments,  quickened  always  by 
the  wakefulness  of  suspicion,  and  perhaps  often  by  the 
restlessness  of  uneasy  conscience.  The  Lion's  Mouth 
of  Venice  is  open  everywhere  in  the  Slave  States ;  nor 
are  wanting  the  gloomy  cells  and  the  Bridge  of  Sighs. 

This  spirit  has  recently  shown  itself  with  such  in- 
tensity and  activity  as  to  constitute  what  is  properly 
termed  a  Reign  of  Terror.  Northern  men,  unless  recog- 
nized as  delegates  to  a  Democratic  Convention,  are  ex- 
posed in  their  travels,  whether  for  business  or  health. 
They  are  watched  and  dogged,  as  in  a  land  of  Despot- 
ism, —  are  treated  with  the  meanness  of  disgusting  tyr- 
anny, —  and  live  in  peril  always  of  personal  indignity, 
often  of  life  and  limb.  Complaint  is  sometimes  made 
of  wrongs  to  American  citizens  in  Mexico ;  but  the  last 
year  witnessed  outrages  on  American  citizens  perpe- 
trated in  the  Slave  States  exceeding  those  in  Mexico. 
Here,  again,  I  have  no  tune  for  details,  already  presented 
in  other  quarters.  Instances  are  from  all  conditions  of 
life  and  in  various  quarters.  In  Missouri,  a  Methodist 
clergyman,  suspected  of  being  an  Abolitionist,  was 
taken  to  prison,  amidst  threats  of  tar  and  feathers.  In 
Arkansas,  a  schoolmaster  was  driven  from  the  State. 
In  Kentucky,  a  plain  citizen  from  Indiana,  on  a  visit  to 
his  friends,  was  threatened  with  death  by  the  rope.  In 
Alabama,  a  simple  person  from  Connecticut,  peddling 


188         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

books,  was  thrust  into  prison,  amidst  cries  of  "  Shoot 
him!  Hang  him!"  In  Virginia,  a  Shaker,  from  New 
York,  peddling  garden-seeds,  was  forcibly  expelled  from 
the  State.  In  Georgia,  a  merchant's  clerk,  Irish  by 
birth,  who  simply  asked  the  settlement  of  a  just  debt, 
was  cast  into  prison,  robbed  of  his  pocket-book  con- 
taining nearly  one  hundred  dollars,  and  barely  escaped 
with  life.  In  South  Carolina,  a  stone-cutter,  also  an 
Irishman,  was  stripped  naked,  and  then,  amidst  cries  of 
"  Brand  him  !"  "  Burn  him  !"  "  Spike  him  to  death  !  " 
scourged  so  that  blood  came  at  every  stroke,  while  tar 
was  poured  upon  the  lacerated  flesh.  These  atrocities, 
calculated,  according  to  the  words  of  a  great  poet,  to 
"make  a  holiday  in  Hell,"  were  all  ordained  by  Vigi- 
lance Committees,  or  that  swiftest  magistrate,  Judge 
Lynch,  inspired  by  the  demon  of  Slavery. 

"  He  let  them  loose,  and  cried,  Halloo ! 
How  shall  we  yield  him  honor  due?  "  1 

In  perfect  shamelessness,  and  as  if  to  blazon  this 
fiendish  spirit,  we  have  this  winter  had  an  article  in  a 
leading  newspaper  of  Virginia,  offering  twenty-five  dol- 
lars each  for  the  heads  of  citizens,  mostly  Members  of 
Congress,  known  to  be  against  Slavery,  with  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  head  of  William  H.  Seward.  In 
still  another  paper  of  Virginia  we  find  a  proposition  to 
raise  ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  kidnapping,  and  de- 
livery at  Richmond,  of  a  venerable  citizen,  Joshua  R. 
Giddings,  "  or  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  production 
of  his  head."  These  are  fresh  instances,  but  not  alone. 
At  a  meeting  of  Slave-Masters  in  Georgia,  in  1836,  the 
Governor  was  recommended  to  issue  a  proclamation 
offering  five  thousand  dollars  as  a  reward  for  the  ap- 

1  Coleridge,  Fire,  Famine,  and  Slaughter. 


THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  189 

prehension  of  either  of  ten  persons  named  in  the  reso- 
lution, citizens  of  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  and  one 
a  subject  of  Great  Britain,  —  neither  of  whom  was  it 
pretended  had  ever  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  Georgia.  The 
MiUedgeville  "  Federal  Union,"  a  newspaper  of  Georgia, 
in  1836,  contained  an  offer  of  ten  thousand  dollars  for 
kidnapping  a  clergyman  residing  in  the  city  of  New 
York  A  Committee  of  Vigilance  in  Louisiana,  in  1835, 
offered,  in  the  "  Louisiana  Journal,"  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars to  any  person  who  would  deliver  into  their  hands 
Arthur  Tappan,  a  liberty-loving  merchant  of  New  York ; 
and  during  the  same  year  a  public  meeting  in  Ala- 
bama, with  a  person  entitled  "  Honorable  "  in  the  chair, 
offered  a  similar  reward  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the 
apprehension  of  the  same  Arthur  Tappan,  and  of  La  Eoy 
Sunderland,  a  clergyman  of  the  Methodist  Church  in 
New  York. 

These  manifestations  are  not  without  example  in  the 
history  of  the  Antislavery  cause  elsewhere.  From  the 
beginning,  Slave-Masters  have  encountered  argument 
by  brutality  and  violence.  St.  Jerome  had  before  him 
their  type,  when  he  described  certain  persons  "  whose 
words  are  in  their  fists  and  syllogisms  in  their  heels." 1 
If  we  go  back  to  the  earliest  of  Abolitionists,  the  won- 
derful Portuguese  preacher,  Vieyra,  we  find  that  his 
matchless  eloquence  and  unquestioned  piety  did  not 
save  him  from  indignity.  The  good  man  was  seized  and 
imprisoned,  while  one  of  the  principal  Slave-Masters 
asked  him,  in  mockery,  "  where  were  all  his  learning  and 
all  his  genius  now,  if  they  could  not  deliver  him  in  this 
extremity  ?  "  2  He  was  of  the  Catholic  Church.  But 

1  "  Quorum  verba  in  pngnis  sunt,  et  syllogismi  in  calcibus." 

2  Southey,  History  of  Brazil,  Vol.  II.  ch.  27,  p.  686. 


190         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

the  spirit  of  Slavery  is  the  same  in  all  churches.  A 
renowned  Quaker  minister  of  the  last  century,  Thomas 
Chalkley,  while  on  a  visit  at  Barbadoes,  having  simply 
recommended  charity  to  the  slaves,  without  presuming 
to  breathe  a  word  against  Slavery  itself,  was  first  met 
by  disturbance  in  the  meeting,  and  afterward,  on  the 
highway,  in  open  day,  was  shot  at  by  one  of  the  exas- 
perated planters,  with  a  fowling-piece  "loaded  with 
small  shot,  ten  of  which  made  marks,  and  several  drew 
blood."1  In  England,  while  the  Slave-Trade  was  un- 
der discussion,  the  same  spirit  raged.  Wilberforce,  who 
represented  the  cause  of  Abolition  in  Parliament,  was 
threatened  with  personal  violence ;  Clarkson,  who  rep- 
resented the  same  cause  before  the  people,  was  as- 
saulted by  the  infuriate  Slave-Traders,  and  narrowly 
escaped  being  hustled  into  the  dock ;  and  Eoscoe,  the 
accomplished  historian,  on  return  to  Liverpool  from  his 
seat  in  Parliament,  where  he  had  signalized  himself  as 
an  opponent  of  the  Slave-Trade,  was  met  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  town  by  a  savage  mob,  composed  of  per- 
sons interested  in  the  traffic,  armed  with  toiives  and 
bludgeons,  the  distinctive  arguments  and  companions  of 
the  partisans  of  Slavery. 

Even  in  the  Free  States,  these  same  partisans  from 
the  beginning  acted  under  the  inspiration  of  violence. 
The  demon  of  Slavery  entered  into  them,  and  through 
its  influence  they  have  behaved  like  Slave-Masters. 
Public  meetings  for  the  discussion  of  Slavery  have 
been  interrupted;  public  halls,  dedicated  to  its  dis- 
cussion, have  been  destroyed  or  burned  to  the  ground. 
In  all  our  populous  cit\es  the  great  rights  of  speech  and 
of  the  press  have  been  assailed  precisely  as  in  the  Slave 

1  Journal  of  Thomas  Chalkley,  p.  274. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         191 

States.  In  Boston,  an  early  and  most  devoted  Aboli- 
tionist was  dragged  through  the  streets  with  a  halter 
about  his  neck ;  and  in  Illinois,  another,  while  defending 
his  press,  was  ferociously  murdered.  The  former  yet 
lives  to  speak  for  himself,  while  the  latter  lives  in  his 
eloquent  brother,  a  ^Representative  from  Illinois  in  the 
other  House.1  Thus  does  Slavery  show  its  natural  char- 
acter even  at  a  distance. 

Nor  in  the  Slave  States  is  this  spirit  confined  to  out- 
breaks of  mere  lawlessness.  Too  strong  for  restraint, 
it  finds  no  limitations  except  in  its  own  barbarous  will. 
The  Government  becomes  its  tool,  and  in  official  acts 
does  its  bidding.  Here  again  the  instances  are  numer- 
ous. I  might  dwell  on  the  degradation  of  the  Post- 
Office,  when  its  official  head  consented  that  for  the 
sake  of  Slavery  the  mails  themselves  should  be  rifled. 
I  might  dwell  also  on  the  cruel  persecution  of  free 
persons  of  color,  who,  in  the  Slave  States  generally, 
and  even  here  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  are  not 
allowed  to  testify  where  a  white  man  is  in  question, 
and  now  in  several  States  are  menaced  by  legislative 
act  with  the  alternative  of  expulsion  from  their  homes 
or  of  reduction  to  Slavery.  But  I  pass  to  two  illus- 
trative transactions,  which  a  son  of  Massachusetts  can 
never  forget. 

1.  The  first  relates  to  a  citizen  of  purest  life  and  per- 
fect integrity,  whose  name  is  destined  to  fill  a  conspicu- 
ous place  in  the  history  of  Freedom,  William  Lloyd 
Garrison.  Born  in  Massachusetts,  bred  to  the  same 
profession  with  Benjamin  Franklin,  and,  like  his  great 
predecessor,  becoming  an  editor,  he  saw  with  instinctive 
clearness  the  wrong  of  Slavery,  and,  at  a  period  when 

i  Hon.  Owen  Lovejoy,  who  died  March  25, 1864. 


192  THE  BARBAKISM   OF  SLAVERY. 

the  ardors  of  the  Missouri  Question  had  given  way  to 
indifference  throughout  the  North,  he  stepped  forward 
to  denounce  it.  The  jail  at  Baltimore,  where  he  then 
resided,  was  the  earliest  reward.  Afterward,  January 
1st,  1831,  he  published  the  first  number  of  "The  Liber- 
ator," inscribing  for  his  motto  an  utterance  of  Christian 
philanthropy,  "  Our  country  is  the  world,  our  country- 
men are  mankind,"  and  declaring,  in  the  face  of  sur- 
rounding apathy :  "  I  am  in  earnest,  —  I  will  not  equivo- 
cate, —  I  will  not  excuse,  —  I  will  not  retreat  a  single 
inch,  —  AND  I  WILL  BE  HEARD."  In  this  sublime  spirit 
he  commenced  his  labors  for  the  Slave,  proposing  no 
intervention  by  Congress  in  the  States,  and  on  well- 
considered  principle  avoiding  all  appeals  to  the  bond- 
men themselves.  Such  was  his  simple  and  thoroughly 
constitutional  position,  when,  before  the  expiration  of 
the  first  year,  the  Legislature  of  Georgia,  by  solemn  act, 
a  copy  of  which  I  have  before  me,  "  approved  "  by  Wil- 
son Lumpkin,  Governor,  appropriated  five  thousand  dol- 
lars "  to  be  paid  to  any  person  or  persons  who  shall  ar- 
rest, bring  to  trial,  and  prosecute  to  conviction  under  the 
laws  of  this  State,  the  editor  or  publisher  of  a  certain 
paper  called  The  Liberator,  published  in  the  town  of 
Boston  and  State  of  Massachusetts." l  This  infamous 
statute,  touching  a  citizen  absolutely  beyond  the  juris- 
diction of  Georgia  and  in  no  way  amenable  to  its  laws, 
constituted  a  plain  bribe  to  the  gangs  of  kidnappers 
engendered  by  Slavery.  With  this  barefaced  defiance 
of  justice  and  decency  Slave-Masters  inaugurated  the 
system  of  violence  by  which  they  have  sought  to  crush 
every  voice  raised  against  Slavery. 

1  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  1831,  Decem- 
ber 26,  p.  266. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         193 

2.  Here  is  another  illustration,  of  a  different  charac- 
ter. Free  persons  of  color,  citizens  of  Massachusetts, 
and,  according  to  the  institutions  of  this  Common- 
wealth, entitled  to  equal  privileges  with  other  citizens, 
being  in  service  as  mariners,  and  touching  at  the  port 
of  Charleston,  in  South  Carolina,  have  been  seized,  and, 
with  no  allegation  against  them,  except  of  entering  this 
port  in  the  discharge  of  their  rightful  business,  have 
been  cast  into  prison,  and  there  detained  during  the 
stay  of  the  vessel  This  is  by  virtue  of  a  statute  of 
South  Carolina,  passed  in  1822,  which  further  declares, 
that,  in  the  failure  of  the  captain  to  pay  the  expenses, 
these  freemen  "  shall  be  deemed  and  taken  as  absolute 
slaves,"  one  moiety  of  the  proceeds  of  their  sale  to  be- 
long to  the  sheriff.  Against  all  remonstrance,  —  against 
the  official  opinion  of  Mr.  "Wrrt,  as  Attorney-General 
of  the  United  States,  declaring  it  unconstitutional, — 
against  the  solemn  judgment  of  Mr.  Justice  Johnson, 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  himself  a 
Slave-Master  and  citizen  of  South  Carolina,  also  pro- 
nouncing it  unconstitutional,1  —  this  statute,  which  is 
an  obvious  injury  to  Northern  ship-owners,  as  it  is  an 
outrage  to  the  mariners  whom  it  seizes,  has  been  upheld 
to  this  day  by  South  Carolina. 

Massachusetts,  anxious  to  obtain  for  her  people  that 
protection  which  was  denied,  and  especially  to  save 
them  from  the  dread  penalty  of  being  sold  into  Slavery, 
appointed  a  citizen  of  South  Carolina  as  her  agent  for 
this  purpose,  and  in  her  behalf  to  bring  suits  in  the 
Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  to  try  the  constitu- 
tionality of  this  pretension.  Owing  to  the  sensitiveness 

i  Report  of  Committee  of  U.  S.  Houae  of  Representatives,  27th  Cong. 
2d  Sess.,  No.  80,  January  20,  1843. 
VOL.  VI.  — 13 


194         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

of  the  people  in  that  State,  the  agent  declined  to  render 
this  simple  service.  Massachusetts  next  selected  one 
of  her  own  sons,  a  venerable  citizen,  who  had  already 
served  with  honor  in  the  other  House  of  Congress,  and 
was  of  admitted  eminence  as  a  lawyer,  the  Hon.  Samuel 
Hoar,  of  Concord,  to  visit  Charleston,  and  there  do  what 
the  agent  first  appointed  shrank  from  doing.  This 
excellent  gentleman,  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him, 
gentle  in  manners  as  he  was  firm  in  character,  with 
a  countenance  that  was  in  itself  a  letter  of  recommen- 
dation, arrived  at  Charleston,  accompanied  only  by  his 
daughter.  Straightway  all  South  Carolina  was  con- 
vulsed. According  to  a  story  in  BoswelTs  Johnson,  all 
the  inhabitants  at  St.  Kilda,  a  remote  island  of  the 
Hebrides,  on  the  approach  of  a  stranger,  "  catch  cold  " 1 ; 
but  in  South  Carolina  it  is  fever  that  they  catch. 
The  Governor  at  the  time,  who  was  none  other  than 
one  of  her  present  Senators  [  Mr.  HAMMOND],  made  his 
arrival  the  subject  of  special  message  to  the  Legislature, 
which  I  have  before  me ;  the  Legislature  all  caught  the 
fever,  and  swiftly  adopted  resolutions  calling  upon  his 
Excellency  the  Governor  "to  expel  from  our  territory 
the  said  agent,  after  due  notice  to  depart,"  and  promis- 
ing to  "  sustain  the  Executive  authority  in  any  meas- 
ures it  may  adopt  for  the  purpose  aforesaid." 

Meanwhile  the  fever  raged  in  Charleston.  The  agent 
of  Massachusetts  was  first  accosted  in  the  streets  by  a 
person  unknown  to  him,  who,  flourishing  a  bludgeon  in 
his  hand,  —  the  bludgeon  always  shows  itself  where 
Slavery  is  in  question,  —  cried  out :  "  You  had  better 
be  travelling,  and  tlie  sooner  the  better  for  you,  I  can 

1  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  October  2,  1773,  ed.  Croker,  (London,  1835,) 
Vol.  IV.  p.  311.     See  also,  anno  1768,  Vol.  III.  pp.  41,  42. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         195 

tell  you;  if  you  stay  here  until  to-morrow  morning, 
you  will  feel  something  you  will  not  like,  I  'm  think- 
ing." Next  came  threats  of  attack  during  the  follow- 
ing night  on  the  hotel  where  he  was  lodged;  then  a 
request  from  the  landlord  that  he  should  quit,  in  order 
to  preserve  the  hotel  from  the  impending  danger  of 
an  infuriate  mob;  then  a  committee  of  Slave-Mas- 
ters, who  politely  proposed  to  conduct  him  to  the  boat. 
Thus  arrested  in  his  simple  errand  of  good-will,  this 
venerable  public  servant,  whose  appearance  alone,  like 
that  of  the  "  grave  and  pious  man  "  mentioned  by  Vir- 
gil, would  have  softened  any  mob  not  inspired  by  Slav- 
ery, yielded  to  the  ejectment  proposed,  precisely  as 
the  prisoner  yields  to  the  officers  of  the  law,  and  left 
Charleston,  while  a  person  in  the  crowd  was  heard 
to  declare  that  he  "had  offered  himself  as  a  leader 
of  a  tar-and-feather  gang,  to  have  been  called  into 
the  service  of  the  city  on  the  occasion."  Nor  is  this 
all  The  Legislature  a  second  time  caught  the  fever, 
and,  yielding  to  its  influence,  passed  a  statute,  forbid- 
ding, under  severe  penalties,  any  person  within  the 
State  from  accepting  a  commission  to  befriend  these 
colored  mariners,  and,  under  penalties  severer  still,  ex- 
tending even  to  unlimited  imprisonment,  prohibiting 
any  person,  "  on  his  own  behalf,  or  under  color  or  in 
virtue  of  any  commission  or  authority  from  any  State 
or  public  authority  of  any  State  in  this  Union,  or  of 
any  foreign  power,"  to  come  into  South  Carolina  for 
this  purpose ;  and  then,  to  complete  its  work,  by  still 
another  statute  took  away  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus 
from  all  such  mariners.1 

1  Massachusetts  Senate  Documents,  1846,  No.  4.  Acts  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  South  Carolina,  1844,  December  18:  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  XL 
pp.  292,  298. 


196          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Such  is  a  simple  narrative,  founded  on  authentic  doc- 
uments. I  do  not  adduce  it  for  present  criticism,  but 
simply  to  enroll  it  in  all  its  stages — beginning  with  the 
earliest  pretension  of  South  Carolina,  continuing  in  vio- 
lence, and  ending  in  yet  other  pretensions  —  among  the 
special  instances  where  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery  stands 
confessed  even  in  official  conduct.  And  yet  this  trans- 
action, which  may  well  give  to  South  Carolina  the  char- 
acter of  a  shore  "  where  shipwrecked  mariners  dread  to 
land,"  was  openly  vindicated  in  all  its  details,  from  be- 
ginning to  end,  by  both  the  Senators  from  that  State, 
while  one  of  them  [  Mr.  HAMMOND],  in  the  same  breath, 
bore  testimony  from  personal  knowledge  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  public  agent  thus  maltreated,  saying,  "  He 
was  a  pleasant,  kind  old  gentleman,  well  informed,  and 
I  had  a  sort  of  friendship  for  him  during  the  short  time 
that  I  sat  near  him  in  Congress."  1 

Thus,  Sir,  whether  we  look  at  individuals  or  at  the 
community  where  Slavery  exists,  at  lawless  outbreaks 
or  at  official  conduct,  Slave-Masters  are  always  the 
same.  Enough,  you  will  say,  has  been  told.  Yes, 
enough  to  expose  Slavery,  but  not  enough  for  Truth. 
The  most  instructive  and  most  grievous  part  still  re- 
mains. It  is  the  exhibition  of  Slave-Masters  in  Con- 
gressional history.  Of  course,  the  representative  reflects 
the  character  as  well  as  the  political  opinions  of  the 
constituents  whose  will  it  is  his  boast  to  obey.  It  fol- 
lows that  the  passions  and  habits  of  Slave-Masters  are 
naturally  represented  in  Congress,  —  chastened  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  perhaps,  by  the  requirements  of  Parlia- 
mentary Law,  but  breaking  out  in  fearful  examples. 
And  here,  again,  facts  speak  as  nothing  else  can. 

l  Congressional  Globe,  36th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  p.  596,  January  26, 1860. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         197 

In  proceeding  with  this  duty,  to  which,  as  you  will 
perceive,  I  am  impelled  by  the  positive  requirements  of 
this  debate,  I  crave  indulgence  of  the  Senate,  while, 
avoiding  all  allusions  to  private  life  or  private  char- 
acter, and  touching  simply  what  is  of  record,  and  already 
"  enrolled  in  the  Capitol,"  I  present  a  few  only  of  many 
instances,  which,  especially  during  these  latter  days, 
since  Slavery  became  paramount,  have  taken  their  place 
in  our  national  history.  Clarendon  has  mildly  pictured 
successive  Congresses,  when,  recounting  what  preceded 
the  Civil  War  in  England,  he  says :  "  It  is  not  to  be 
denied  that  there  were  in  all  those  Parliaments  .... 
several  passages  and  distempered  speeches  of  particu- 
lar persons,  not  fit  for  the  dignity  and  honor  of  those 
places." l  But  Congress,  under  the  rule  of  Slavery,  has 
been  worse  than  any  Parliament. 

Here  is  an  instance.  On  the  13th  of  February,  1837, 
E.  M.  Whitney  was  arraigned  before  the  House  of  Kep- 
resentatives  for  contempt,  in  refusing  to  attend,  when 
required,  before  a  committee  investigating  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Executive  office.  His  excuse  was,  that 
"  he  could  not  attend  without  exposing  himself  thereby 
to  outrage  and  violence "  in  the  committee-room ;  and 
on  examination  at  the  bar  of  the  House,  Mr.  Fairfield,  a 
member  of  the  Committee,  afterward  a  member  of  this 
body,  and  Governor  of  Maine,  testified  to  the  actual 
facts.  It  appeared  that  Mr.  Peyton,  a  Slave-Master 
from  Tennessee,  and  a  member  of  the  Committee,  re- 
garding a  certain  answer  in  writing  by  Mr.  Whitney  to 
an  interrogatory  propounded  by  him  as  offensive,  broke 
out  in  these  words :  "  Mr.  Chairman,  I  wish  you  to  in- 
form this  witness  that  he  is  not  to  insult  me  in  his 

1  History  of  the  Rebellion,  Book  I.  Vol.  I.  pp.  8,  9,  Oxford,  1826. 


198          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

answers;  if  he  does,  God  damn  him,  I  will  take  his 
life  upon  the  spot ! "  Mr.  Wise,  another  Slave-Master, 
from  Virginia,  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  and  latterly 
Governor  of  Virginia,  then  intervened,  saying,  "  Yes,~this 
damned  insolence  is  insufferable."  The  witness,  there- 
upon rising,  claimed  the  protection  of  the  Committee ; 
on  which  Mr.  Peyton  exclaimed :  "  God  damn  you,  you 
shan't  speak ;  you  shan't  say  a  word  while  you  are  in 
this  room ;  if  you  do,  I  will  put  you  to  death  ! "  Soon 
after,  Mr.  Peyton,  observing  that  the  witness  was  look- 
ing at  him,  cried  out :  "  Damn  him,  his  eyes  are  on  me  ; 
God  damn  him,  he  is  looking  at  me  ;  he  shan't  do  it ; 
damn  him,  he  shan't  look  at  me ! "  These  things,  and 
much  more,  disclosed  by  Mr.  Fairfield,  in  reply  to  inter- 
rogatories in  the  House,  were  confirmed  by  other  wit- 
nesses ;  and  Mr.  Wise  himself,  in  a  speech,  made  the 
admission  that  he  was  armed  with  deadly  weapons,  say- 
ing :  "  I  watched  the  motion  of  that  right  arm  [of  the 
witness],  the  elbow  of  which  could  be  seen  by  me ;  and 
had  it  moved  one  inch,  he  had  died  on  the  spot.  That 
was  my  determination." 

All  this  will  be  found  in  the  thirteenth  volume  of  the 
"Congressional  Debates,"  with  the  evidence  in  detail, 
and  the  discussion  thereupon. 

Here  is  another  instance,  of  similar  character,  which 
did  not  occur  in  a  committee-room,  but  during  debate 
in  the  Senate  Chamber.  While  the  Compromise  Meas- 
ures were  under  discussion,  on  the  17th  of  April,  1850, 
Mr.  Foote,  a  Slave-Master  from  Mississippi,  in  the 
course  of  remarks,  commenced  personal  allusion  to  Mr. 
Benton.  This  was  aggravated  by  the  circumstance  that 
only  a  few  days  previously  he  had  made  this  distin- 
guished gentleman  the  mark  for  most  bitter  and  vin- 


THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  199 

dictive  personalities.  Mr.  Benton  rose  at  once  from 
his  seat,  and,  with  angry  countenance,  but  without 
weapon  of  any  kind  in  his  hand,  or,  as  appeared  after- 
ward before  the  Committee,  on  his  person,  advanced 
in  the  direction  of  Mr.  Foote,  when  the  latter,  gliding 
backward,  drew  from  his  pocket  a  five-chambered  re- 
volver, full-loaded,  which  he  cocked.  Meanwhile  Mr. 
Benton,  at  the  suggestion  of  friends,  was  already  return- 
ing to  his  seat,  when  he  perceived  the  pistol  Excited 
greatly  by  this  deadly  menace,  he  exclaimed:  "I  am 
not  armed.  I  have  no  pistols.  I  disdain  to  carry  arms. 
Stand  out  of  the  way,  and  let  the  assassin  fire."  Mr. 
Foote  remained  standing  in  the  position  he  had  taken, 
with  pistol  in  hand,  cocked.  "  Soon  after,"  says  the 
Eeport  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  investigate  this 
occurrence,  "both  Senators  resumed  their  seats,  and 
order  was  restored." 

This  will  be  found  at  length  in  the  twenty-first  vol- 
ume of  the  "  Congressional  Globe." 1 

I  cite  yet  another  instance  from  the  same  authentic 
record.  Mr.  Arnold,  of  Tennessee,  had  proclaimed  him- 
'self  as  "  belonging  to  the  Peace  party,"  when  Mr.  Daw- 
son,  of  Louisiana,  coming  to  his  seat,  called  him  "a 
damned  coward,"  "  a  damned  blackguard,"  and  then  said, 
that,  if  Mr.  Arnold  did  not  behave  better,  "he  would 
cut  his  throat  from  ear  to  ear."2 

The  Duel,  which  at  home  in  the  Slave  States  is 
"twin"  with  the  "street  fight,"  is  also  "twin"  with 
these  instances.  It  is  constantly  adopted  or  attempted 
by  Slave-Masters  in  Congress.  But  I  shall  not  enter 

1  See  also  Senate  Reports,  31st  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  No.  170. 

8  Speech  of  Mr.  Arnold,  January  27,  1841:  Congressional  Globe,  Vol.  XI. 
p.  182.  See  also  Address  to  the  Inhabitants  of  New  Mexico  and  Cali- 
fornia, by  William  Jay:  Miscellaneous  Writings,  p.  616. 


200  THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY. 

upon  this  catalogue.  I  content  myself  with~"showing 
the  openness  with  which  it  has  been  menaced  in  de- 
bate, and  without  any  call  to  order. 

Mr.  Foote,  the  same  Slave-Master  already  mentioned, 
in  debate  in  the  Seriate,  the  26th  of  March,  1850,  thus 
sought  to  provoke  Mr.  Benton.  I  take  his  words  from 
the  "  Congressional  Globe,"  Yol.  XXI.  p.  603. 

"There  are  incidents  in  his  [Mr.  Benton's]  history,  of 
somewhat  recent  occurrence,  which  might  well  relieve  any 
man  of  honor  from  the  obligation  to  recognize  him  as  a 
fitting  antagonist ;  yet  is  it,  notwithstanding,  true,  that,  if 
the  Senator  from  Missouri  will  deign  to  acknowledge  him- 
self responsible  to  the  laws  of  honor,  he  shall  have  a  very 
early  opportunity  of  proving  his  prowess  in  contest  with 
one  over  whom  I  hold  perfect  control ;  or,  if  he  feels  in  the 
least  degree  aggrieved  at  anything  which  has  fallen  from  me, 
now  or  formerly,  he  shall,  on  demanding  it,  have  full  redress 
accorded  him,  according  to  the  said  laws  of  honor.  I  do 
not  denounce  him  as  a  coward;  such  language  is  unfitted 
for  this  audience  ;  but,  if  he  wishes  to  patch  up  his  reputa- 
tion for  courage,  now  greatly  on  the  wane,  he  will  certainly 
have  an  opportunity  of  doing  so,  whenever  he  makes  known  his 
desire  in  the  premises.  At  present  he  is  shielded  by  his  age, 
his  open  disavowal  of  the  obligatory  force  of  the  laws  of  honor, 
and  his  Senatorial  privileges." 

With  such  bitter  taunts  and  reiterated  provocations  to 
the  Duel  was  Mr.  Benton  pursued ;  but  there  was  no  call 
to  order,  nor  any  action  of  the  Senate  on  this  outrage. 

I  give  another  instance.  In  debate  in  the  Senate 
on  the  27th  February,  1852,  Mr.  Clemens,  a  Slave- 
Master  of  Alabama,  thus  directly  attacked  Mr.  Ehett 
for  undertaking  to  settle  their  differences  by  argument 
in  the  Senate  rather  than  by  the  Duel  "No  man," 


THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  201 

said  he,  "  with  the  feeling  of  a  man  in  his  bosom,  would 
have  sought  redress  here.  He  would  have  looked  for  it 
elsewhere.  He  now  comes  here,  not  to  ask  redress  in  the 
only  way  he  should  have  sought  it." 3  There  was  no  call 
to  order. 

Here  is  still  another.  In  the  debate  on  the  Bill  for 
the  Improvement  of  Eivers  and  Harbors,  29th  July, 
1854,  the  Senator  from  Louisiana  [Mr.  BENJAMIN],  who 
is  still  a  member  of  this  body,  ardent  for  Slavery,  while 
professing  to  avoid  personal  altercation  in  the  Senate, 
especially  "with  a  gentleman  who  professes  the  prin- 
ciples of  non-resistance,  as  he  understood  the  Senator 
from  New  York  does,"  proceeded  most  earnestly  to 
repel  an  imagined  imputation  on  him  by  Mr.  Seward, 
and  wound  up  by  saying,  "If  it  came  from  another 
quarter,  it  would  not  be  upon  this  floor  that  I  should 
ansiver  it."2 

During  the  present  session,  the  Senator  from  Missis- 
sippi [Mr.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS],  who  speaks 'so  often  for 
Slavery,  in  a  colloquy  on  this  floor  with  the  Senator 
from  Vermont  [  Mr.  COLLAMER],  maintained  the  Duel  as 
a  mode  of  settling  personal  differences,  afed  vindicating 
what  is  called  personal  honor,  —  as  if  personal  honor 
did  not  depend  absolutely  upon  what  a  man  does,  and 
not  on  what  is  done  to  him.  After  certain  refinements 
on  the  imagined  relations  between  an  insult  and  the 
obligation  to  answer  for  it,  the  Senator  declared,  in 
reply  to  the  Senator  from  Vermont,  that,  in  case  of 
insult,  taking  another  out  and  shooting  him  might  be 
"  satisfaction."  8 

I  do  not  dwell  on  this  instance,  nor  on  any  of  these 

1  Congressional  Globe,  82d  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  p.  647. 

2  Ibid.,  33d  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  Appendix,  p.  1168. 
•  Ibid.,  36th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  p.  1686. 


202         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY 

V 

instances,  except  to  make  a  single  comment.  These 
declarations  have  all  been  made  in  open  Senate,  with- 
out any  check  from  the  Chair.  Of  course,  they  are 
clear  violations  of  the  first  principles  of  Parliamentary 
Law,  and  tend  directly  to  provoke  a  violation  of  the  law 
of  the  land.  Here,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  all  duels 
are  prohibited  by  solemn  Act  of  Congress.1  In  case  of 
death,  the  surviving  parties  "are  declared  guilty  of  fel- 
ony, to  be  punished  by  hard  labor  in  the  penitentiary ; 
and  even  where  nothing  has  occurred  beyond  the  chal- 
lenge, all  the  parties  to  it,  whether  givers,  receivers,  or 
bearers,  are  declared  guilty  of  high  crime  and  misde- 
meanor, also  to  be  punished  by  hard  labor  in  the  peni- 
tentiary. Of  course,  every  menace  of  duel  in  Congress 
sets  this  law  at  defiance.  And  yet  Senators,  who  thus 
openly  disregard  a  law  sanctioned  by  the  Constitution 
and  commended  by  morality,  presume  to  complain  on 
this  floor  because  other  Senators  disregard  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Bill,  a  statute  which,  according  to  the  profound 
convictions  of  large  numbers,  is  as  unconstitutional  as 
it  is  offensive  to  the  moral  sense.  Let  Senators,  whose 
watchword  is  "  the  enforcement  of  laws,"  begin  by 
enforcing  the  statute  which  declares  the  Duel  to  be 
felony.  At  least,  let  the  statute  cease  to  be  a  dead  let- 
ter in  this  Chamber,  where  the  watchword  is  so  often 
heard.  But  this  is  too  much  to  expect  while  Slavery 
prevails  here;  for  the  Duel  is  part  of  that  System  of 
Violence  which  has  its  origin  in  Slavery. 

It  is  when  aroused  by  the  Slave  Question  in  Con- 
gress that  Slave-Masters  have  most  truly  shown  them- 
selves ;  and  here  again  I  shall  speak  only  of  what  has 
already  passed  into  history.  Slavery  is  a  perpetual 

1  Act  of  February  20,  1839:  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  V.  p.  318. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.          203 

fever-and-ague,  under  which  Congress  has  shaken  with 
alternate  heats  and  chills.  Even  in  that  earliest  de- 
bate, in  the  first  Congress  after  the  Constitution,  on  the 
memorial  of  Dr.  Franklin,  simply  calling  upon  Congress 
to  "  step  to  the  verge  of  its  power  to  discourage  every 
species  of  traffic  in  the  persons  of  our  fellow-men," 1  the 
Slave-Masters  became  angry,  indulged  in  sneers  at  "  the 
men  in  the  gallery"  being  Quakers  and  Abolitionists, 
and,  according  to  the  faithful  historian,  Hildreth,2  poured 
out  "  torrents  of  abuse,"  while  one  of  them  began  the 
charge  so  often  since  directed  against  all  Antislavery 
men,  by  declaring  his  astonishment  that  Dr.  Franklin 
had  "  given  countenance "  to  "  an  application  which 
called  upon  Congress,  in  explicit  terms,  to  break  a  sol- 
emn compact  to  which  he  had  himself  been  a  party," 
when  it  was  obvious  that  Dr.  Franklin  had  done  no 
such  thing.  The  great  man  was  soon  summoned  away 
by  death,  but  not  until  he  had  fastened  upon  this  de- 
bate an  undying  condemnation,  by  portraying,  with 
matchless  pen,  a  scene  in  the  Divan  at  Algiers,  where 
a  Corsair  Slave-Dealer,  insisting  upon  the  enslavement 
of  White  Christians,  is  made  to  repeat  the  Congressional 
speech  of  an  American  Slave-Master.3 

These  displays  of  Violence  naturally  increase  with 
the  intensity  of  the  discussion.  Impelled  to  be  severe, 
but  with  little  appreciation  of  debate  in  its  finer  forms, 
they  cannot  be  severe  except  by  violating  the  rules  of 
debate,  —  not  knowing  that  there  -is  a  serener  power 
than  any  found  in  personalities,  and  that  all  severity 
transcending  the  rules  of  debate  becomes  disgusting  as 
the  utterance  of  a  Yahoo,  and  harms  him  only  who 

1  Annals  of  Congress,  1st  Cong.  2d  Sess.,  col.  1198. 

2  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  IV.  Cti.  2. 
«  Works,  ed.  Sparks,  Vol.  II.  pp.  617-621. 


204          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.  ^ 

degrades  himself  to  be  its  mouthpiece.  Of  course,  on 
such  occasions,  amidst  all  seeming  triumphs,  the  cause 
of  Slavery  loses,  and  Truth  gains.  If  men  cannot 
afford  to  be  decent,  they  ought  to  suspect  the  justice 
of  their  cause,  or  at  least  the  motives  with  which  they 
sustain  it ;  but  our  Slave-Masters,  not  seeing  the  inde- 
cency of  their  conduct,  know  not  their  losses.  There 
is  waste  as  well  as  economy  of  character ;  but  the  lat- 
ter is  found  only  in  the  cultivation  of  those  principles 
which  make  Slavery  impossible. 

Against  John  Quincy  Adams  this  violence  was  first 
directed  in  full  force.  To  a  character  spotless  as  snow, 
and  to  universal  attainments  as  a  scholar,  this  illustri- 
ous citizen  added  experience  in  all  the  eminent  posts  of 
the  Republic,  which  he  had  filled  with  an  ability  and 
integrity  now  admitted  even  by  enemies,  and  which  im- 
partial history  can  never  forget.  Having  been  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  he  entered  the  House  of 
Representatives  at  the  period  when  the  Slave  Question, 
in  its  revival,  first  began  to  occupy  public  attention. 
In  all  the  completeness  of  his  nature,  he  became  the 
representative  of  Human  Freedom.  The  first  struggle 
occurred  on  the  Right  of  Petition,  which  Slave-Masters, 
with  characteristic  tyranny,  sought  to  suppress.  This 
was  resisted  by  the  venerable  patriot,  and  what  he  did 
was  always  done  with  his  whole  heart.  Then  was 
poured  upon  him  abuse  "  as  from  a  cart,"  according  to  a 
famous  phrase  of  Demosthenes.  Slave-Masters,  "  foam- 
ing out  their  shame,"  became  conspicuous,  not  less  for 
the  avowal  of  sentiments  at  which  Civilization  blushed 
than  for  an  effrontery  of  manner  where  the  accidental 
legislator  was  lost  in  the  natural  overseer,  and  the  lash 
of  the  plantation  resounded  in  the  voice. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         205 

In  an  address  to  his  constituents,  September  17, 
1842,  Mr.  Adams  thus  frankly  describes  the  treatment 
he  experienced  :  — 

"  I  never  can  take  part  in  any  debate  upon  an  important 
subject,  be  it  only  upon  a  mere  abstraction,  but  a  pack 
opens  upon  me  of  personal  invective  in  return.  Language 
has  no  word  of  reproach  and  railing  that  is  not  hurled  at 
me." 

And  in  the  same  speech  he  shows  us  Slave-Mas- 
ters:— 

"  Where  the  South  cannot  effect  her  object  by  browbeat- 
ing, she  wheedles." 

On  another  occasion,  he  announced,  with  accustomed 
power :  — 

"  Insult,  bullying,  and  threat  characterize  the  Slave- 
holders in  Congress;  talk,  timidity,  and  submission,  the 
Representatives  from  the  Free  States." 

Nor  were  the  Slave-Masters  content  with  violence  of 
words,  or  with  ejaculation  of  personalities  by  which 
debate  became  a  perpetual  syringe  of  liquid  foulness, 
and  every  one  seemed  to  vie  with  Squirt  the  apothecary, 
according  to  the  verse  admired  by  Pope,  — 

"  Such  zeal  he  had  for  that  vile  utensil."  * 

True  to  the  instincts  of  Slavery,  they  threatened  per- 
sonal indignity  of  every  kind,  and  even  assassination. 
And  here  South  Carolina  naturally  took  the  lead. 

The  "  Charleston  Mercury,"  which  always  speaks  the 
true  voice  of  Slavery,  said  in  1837 :  — 

"Public  opinion  in  the  South  would  now,  we  are  sure, 
justify  an  immediate  resort  to  force  by  the  Southern  dele- 

l  Garth,  The  Dispensary,  Canto  II.  228. 


206  THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY. 

gation,  even  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  were  they  forthwith  to 
seize  and  drag  from  the  Hall  any  man  who  dared  to  insult 
them,  as  that  eccentric  old  showman,  John  Quincy  Adams, 
has  dared  to  do." 

And  at  a  public  dinner  at  Walterborough,  in  South 
Carolina,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1842,  the  following  toast, 
afterwards  preserved  by  Mr.  Adams  in  one  of  his 
speeches,  was  drunk  with  unbounded  applause:  — 

"  May  we  never  want  a  Democrat  to  trip  up  the  heels 
of  a  Federalist,  or  a  hangman  to  prepare  a  halter  for  John 
Quincy  Adams !  [Nine  cheers.]  " 

A  Slave-Master  from  South  Carolina,  Mr.  Waddy 
Thompson,  in  debate  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 
threatened  the  venerable  patriot  with  the  "  peniten- 
tiary "  ;  and  another  Slave-Master,  Mr.  Marshall,  of 
Kentucky,  insisted  that  he  should  be  "silenced."  Omi- 
nous word !  full  of  incentive  to  the  bludgeon-bearers 
of  Slavery.  But  the  great  representative  of  Freedom 
stood  firm.  Meanwhile  Slavery  assumed  more  and 
more  the  port  of  Giant  Maul  in  "  Pilgrim's  Progress," 
who  continued  with  his  club  breaking  skulls,  until 
he  was  slain  by  Mr.  Great-Heart,  soon  to  join  the  con- 
genial pilgrims,  Mr.  Honest,  Mr.  Valiant-for-Truth,  and 
Mr.  Standfast. 

Next  to  Joha  Quincy  Adams,  no  person  in  Congress 
has  been  more  conspicuous  for  long-continued  and  pa- 
triotic services  against  Slavery  than  Joshua  E.  Giddings, 
of  Ohio  ;  nor  have  any  such  services  received  in  higher 
degree  that  homage  found  in  the  personal  and  most 
vindictive  assaults  of  Slave- Masters.  For  more  than 
twenty  years  he  sat  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 
bearing  his  testimony  austerely,  and  never  shrinking, 


THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  207 

though  exposed  to  the  grossest  brutality.  In  a  recent 
address  at  New  York  he  has  recounted  some  of  these 
instances. 

On  his  presentation  of  resolutions  affirming  that 
Slavery  was  a  local  institution  and  could  not  exist 
outside  of  the  Slave  States,  and  applying  this  princi- 
ple to  the  case  of  the  "  Creole,"  the  House  caught  the 
South  Carolina  fever.  A  proposition  of  censure  was 
introduced  by  Slave-Masters,  and  under  the  previous 
question  pressed  to  a  vote,  without  giving  him  a  mo- 
ment for  explanation  or  reply.  This  glaring  outrage 
upon  freedom  of  debate  was  redressed  by  the  constitu- 
ency of  Mr.  Giddings,  who  without  delay  returned  him 
to  his  seat.  From  that  time  the  rage  of  the  Slave- 
Masters  against  him  was  constant.  Here  is  his  own 
brief  account 

"  I  will  not  speak  of  the  time  when  Dawson,  of  Louisiana, 
drew  a  bowie-knife  for  my  assassination.  I  was  afterward 
speaking  with  regard  to  a  certain  transaction  in  which  ne- 
groes were  concerned  in  Georgia,  when  Mr.  Black,  of  Geor- 
gia, raising  his  bludgeon,  and  standing  in  front  of  my  seat, 
said  to  me,  '  If  you  repeat  that  language  again,  I  will  knock 
you  down.'  It  was  a  solemn  moment  for  me.  I  had  never 
been  knocked  down,  and,  having  some  curiosity  upon  that 
subject,  I  repeated  the  language.  Then  Mr.  Dawson,  of  Lou- 
isiana, the  same  who  had  drawn  the  bowie-knife,  placed  his 
hand  in  his  pocket  and  said,  with  an  oath  which  I  will  not 
repeat,  that  he  would  shoot  me,  at  the  same  time  cocking 
the  pistol,  so  that  all  around  me  could  hear  it  click." 

listening  to  these  horrors,  ancient  stories  of  Barbar- 
ism are  all  outdone ;  and  the  "  viper  broth, "  which  was 
a  favorite  decoction  in  a  barbarous  age,  seems  to  be 
the  daily  drink  of  American  Slave-Masters.  The  bias- 


208          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

pheming  madness  of  the  witches  in  "  Macbeth "  is  re- 
newed, and  they  dance  again  round  the  caldron,  drop- 
ping into  it  "  sweltered  venom  sleeping  got,"  with  every 
other  "  charm  of  powerful  trouble."  Men  are  transformed 
into  wolves,  as  according  to  early  Greek  superstition, 
and  a  new  lycanthropy  has  its  day.  But  Mr.  Giddings, 
strong  in  consciousness  of  right,  knew  the  dignity  of 
his  position.  He  knew  that  it  is  always  honorable  to 
serve  the  cause  of  Liberty,  and  that  it  is  a  privilege 
to  suffer  for  this  cause.  Reproach,  contumely,  violence 
even  unto  death,  are  rewards,  not  punishments  ;  and 
clearly  the  indignities  you  offer  can  excite  no  shame 
except  for  their  authors. 

Besides  these  eminent  instances,  others  may  be  men- 
tioned, showing  the  personalities  to  which  Senators  and 
Eepresentatives  are  exposed,  when  undertaking  to  speak 
for  Freedom.  And  truth  compels  me  to  add,  that  it 
would  be  easy  to  show  how  these  are  grossly  aggravated, 
towards  individuals  who  notoriously  reject  the  Duel; 
for  then  they  can  be  offered  with  personal  impunity. 

Here  is  an  instance.  In  1848,  Mr.  Hale,  the  Sena- 
tor from  New  Hampshire,  who  still  continues  an  honor 
to  this  body,  introduced  into  the  Senate  a  bill  for  the 
protection  of  property  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  es- 
pecially against  mob-violence,  when,  in  the  debate  that 
ensued,  Mr.  Foote,  a  Slave-Master  from  Mississippi,  thus 
menaced  him :  — 

"  I  invite  the  Senator  to  the  good  State  of  Mississippi,  and 
will  tell  him  beforehand,  in  all  honesty,  that  he  could  not  go 
ten  miles  into  the  interior  before  he  would  grace  one  of  the 
tallest  trees  of  the  forest  with  a  rope  around  his  neck,  with 
the  approbation  of  every  virtuous  and  patriotic  citizen,  and 
that,  if  necessary,  /  should  myself  assist  in  the  operation."  J 

1  Congressional  Globe,  30th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  Appendix,  T>,  r>0'.'. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         209 

That  this  bloody  threat  may  not  seem  to  stand  alone, 
I  add  two  others. 

In  1836,  Mr.  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  now  a 
Senator,  is  reported  as  saying  in  the  House  of  Eepre- 
sentatives :  — 

"  I  warn  the  Abolitionists,  ignorant,  infatuated  barbarians 
as  they  are,  that,  if  chance  shall  throw  any  of  them  into  our 
hands,  he  may  expect  a  felon's  death  !  "  x 

In  1841,  Mr.  Payne,  a  Slave-Master  from  Alabama,  in 
the  course  of  debate  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 
alluding  to  the  Abolitionists,  among  whom  he  insisted  the 
Postmaster-General  ought  to  be  included,  declared  that 

"  He  would  put  the  brand  of  Cain  upon  them,  —  yes,  the 
mark  of  Hell ;  and  if  they  came  to  the  South,  he  would 
hang  them  like  dogs"  a 

And  these  words  were  applied  to  men  who  simply 
expressed  the  recorded  sentiments  of  Washington,  Jef- 
ferson, and  Franklin. 

Even  during  the  present  session  of  Congress,  I  find  in 
the  "Congressional  Globe"  the  following  interruptions 
of  the  eloquent  and  faithful  Kepresentative  from  Illi- 
nois, Mr.  Lovejoy,  when  speaking  on  Slavery.  I  do 
not  characterize  them,  but  simply  cite  the  language. 

By  Mr.  Barksdale,  of  Mississippi :  — 

"Order  that  black-hearted  scoundrel  and  nigger-stealing 
thief  to  take  his  seat." 

By  Mr.  Boyce,  of  South  Carolina,  addressing  Mr. 
Lovejoy :  — 

"  Then  behave  yourself." 

1  Congressional  Globe,  24th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  Appendix,  p.  667. 

2  Ibid.,  27th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  p.  387. 

VOL.  VI.  — 14 


210         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

By  Mr.  Gartrell,  of  Georgia  (in  his  seat) :  — 
"  The  man  is  crazy." 

By  Mr.  Barksdale,  of  Mississippi,  again :  — 
"No,  Sir,  you  stand  there  to-day  an  infamous,  perjured 
villain." 

By  Mr.  Ashmore,  of  South  Carolina  :  — 

"  Yes,  he  is  a  perjured  villain ;  and  he  perjures  himself 
every  hour  he  occupies  a  seat  on  this  floor." 

By  Mr.  Singleton,  of  Mississippi :  — 

"  And  a  negro-thief  into  the  bargain." 

By  Mr.  Barksdale,  of  Mississippi,  again :  — 

"  I  hope  my  colleague  will  hold  no  parley  with  that  per- 
jured negro-thief." 

By  Mr.  Singleton,  of  Mississippi,  again :  — 

"  No,  Sir !  any  gentleman  shall  have  time,  but  not  such  a 
mean,  despicable  wretch  as  that !  " 

By  Mr.  Martin,  of  Virginia :  — 

"  And  if  you  come  among  us,  we  will  do  with  you  as  we 
did  with  John  Brown,  —  hang  you  up  as  high  as  Haman.  I 
say  that  as  a  Virginian."  1 

But  enough,  —  enough ;  and  I  now  turn  from  this 
branch  of  the  great  subject  with  a  single  remark.  While 
exhibiting  the  Character  of  Slave-Masters,  these  numer- 
ous instances  —  and  they  might  be  multiplied  indefi- 
nitely —  attest  the  weakness  of  their  cause.  It  requires 
no  special  talent  to  estimate  the  insignificance  of  an 
argument  that  can  be  supported  only  by  violence.  The 
scholar  will  not  forget  the  ancient  story  of  the  collo- 

1  Congressional  Globe,  36th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  Appendix,  pp.  203  -  207. 


THE  BABBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.  211 

quy  between  Jupiter  and  a  simple  countryman.  They 
talked  with  ease  and  freedom  until  they  differed,  when 
the  angry  god  at  once  menaced  his  honest  opponent 
with  a  thunderbolt.  "  Ah  !  ah  ! "  said  the  clown,  with 
perfect  composure,  "  now,  Jupiter,  I  know  you  are 
wrong.  You  are  always  wrong,  when  you  appeal  to 
your  thunder."  And  permit  me  to  say,  that  every  ap- 
peal, whether  to  the  Duel,  the  revolver,  or  the  bludgeon, 
every  menace  of  personal  violence  and  every  outrage 
of  language,  besides  disclosing  a  hideous  Barbarism, 
also  discloses  the  fevered  nervousness  of  a  cause  already 
humbled  in  debate.  And  then  how  impotent !  Truth, 
like  the  sunbeam,  cannot  be  soiled  by  outward  touch, 
while  the  best  testimony  to  its  might  is  found  in  the 
active  passions  it  provokes.  There  are  occasions  when 
enmity  is  a  panegyric. 

(4.)  Much  as  has  been  said  to  exhibit  the  Character  of 
Slave-Masters,  the  work  would  be  incomplete,  if  I  failed 
to  point  out  that  wnconsciowness  of  its  fatal  influence 
which  completes  the  evidence  of  the  Barbarism  under 
which  they  live.  Nor  am  I  at  liberty  to  decline  this 
topic  ;  but  I  shall  be  brief. 

That  Senators  should  seriously  declare  Slavery  "  en- 
nobling," at  least  to  the  master,  and  "the  black  marble 
keystone  of  our  national  arch,"  would  excite  wonder, 
if  it  were  not  explained  by  examples  of  history.  There 
are  men  who,  in  the  spirit  of  paradox,  make  them- 
selves partisans  of  a  bad  cause,  as  Jerome  Cardan 
wrote  an  Encomium  on  Nero.  But  where  there  is  no 
disposition  to  paradox,  it  is  natural  that  a  cherished 
practice  should  blind  those  under  its  influence ;  nor  is 
there  any  end  to  these  exaggerations.  According  to  Thu- 


212          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

cydides,  piracy  in  the  early  ages  of  Greece  was  alike 
wide-spread  aiid  honorable ;  and  so  much  was  this  the 
case,  that  Telemachus  and  Mentor,  on  landing  at  Pylos, 
were  asked  by  Nestor  if  they  were  "  pirates,"  l  —  pre- 
cisely as  in  South  Carolina  the  stranger  might  be  asked 
if  he  were  a  Slave-Master.  Kidnapping,  too,  a  kindred 
indulgence,  was  openly  avowed,  and  I  doubt  not  held  to 
be  "ennobling."  Next  to  the  unconsciousness  of  child- 
hood is  the  unconsciousness  of  Barbarism.  The  real  Bar- 
barian is  unconscious  as  an  infant ;  and  the  Slave-Mas- 
ter shows  much  of  the  same  character.  No  New-Zea- 
lander  exults  in  his  tattoo,  no  savage  of  the  Northwest 
Coast  exults  in  his  flat  head,  more  than  the  Slave-Master 
of  these  latter  days  —  always,  of  course,  with  honorable 
exceptions  —  exults  in  his  unfortunate  condition.  The 
Slave-Master  hugs  his  disgusting  practice  as  the  Carib 
of  the  Gulf  hugged  Cannibalism,  and  as  Brigham  Young 
now  hugs  Polygamy.  The  delusion  of  the  Goitre  is 
repeated.  This  prodigious  swelling  of  the  neck,  nothing 
less  than  a  loathsome  wallet  of  flesh  pendulous  upon 
the  breast,  and  sometimes  so  enormous,  that  the  victim, 
unable  to  support  the  burden,  crawls  along  the  ground, 
is  common  to  the  population  on  the  slopes  of  the  Alps  ; 2 
but,  accustomed  to  this  deformity,  the  sufferer  comes 
to  regard  it  with  pride,  —  as  Slave-Masters  with  us,  un- 
able to  support  their  burden,  and  crawling  along  the 
ground,  regard  Slavery,  —  and  it  is  said  that  those  who 
have  no  swelling  are  laughed  at  and  called  "goose- 
necked."  8 

1  Thncydides,  Hist.  Belli  Pelop.,  Lib.  I.  cap.  5.     Odyssey,  IH.  73. 

3  "Quis  ttunidum  guttur  miratur  in  Alpibus ?"—  JUVENAL,  Sat.  XIII. 
162. 

8  Murray's  Handbook  for  Travellers  in  Switzerland,  8th  ed.,  Introduction, 
§18. 


THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  213 

With  knowledge  comes  distrust  and  the  modest  con- 
sciousness of  imperfection ;  but  the  pride  of  Barbarism 
has  no  such  limitation.  It  dilates  in  the  thin  air  of 
ignorance,  and  makes  boasts.  Surely,  if  the  illustra- 
tions which  I  have  presented  to-day  are  not  entirely 
inapplicable,  then  must  we  find  in  the  boasts  of  Slave- 
Masters  new  occasion  to  regret  that  baleful  influence 
under  which  even  love  of  country  is  lost  in  love  of 
Slavery,  and  the  great  motto  of  Franklin  is  reversed,  so 
as  to  read,  Ubi  Servitudo,  ibi  Patria. 

It  is  this  same  influence  which  renders  Slave-Masters 
insensible  to  those  characters  which  are  among  the  true 
glories  of  the  Republic,  —  which  makes  them  forget  that 
Jefferson,  who  wrote  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  Washington,  who  commanded  our  armies,  were  Abo- 
litionists, —  which  renders  them  indifferent  to  the  in- 
spiring words  of  the  one  and  the  commanding  example 
of  the  other.  Of  these  great  men  it  is  the  praise,  well 
deserving  perpetual  mention,  and  grudged  only  by  ma- 
lign influence,  that,  reared  amidst  Slavery,  they  did  not 
hesitate  to  condemn  it.  Jefferson,  in  repeated  utter- 
ances, alive  with  the  fire  of  genius  and  truth,  has  con- 
tributed the  most  important  testimony  to  Freedom  ever 
pronounced  in  this  hemisphere,  in  words  equal  to  the 
cause ;  and  Washington,  often  quoted  as  a  Slave-Master, 
in  the  solemn  dispositions  of  his  last  will  and  testa- 
ment, has  contributed  an  example  which  is  beyond  even 
the  words  of  Jefferson.  Do  not,  Sir,  call  him  Slave- 
Master,  who  entered  into  the  presence  of  his  Maker 
only  as  Emancipator  of  his  slaves.  The  difference  be- 
tween such  men  and  the  Slave-Masters  whom  I  expose 
to-day  is  so  precise  that  it  cannot  be  mistaken.  The 
first  looked  down  upon  Slavery ;  the  second  look  up  to 


214          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Slavery.  The  first,  recognizing  its  wrong,  were  at  once 
liberated  from  its  insidious  influence ;  while  the  latter, 
upholding  it  as  right  and  "  ennobling,"  must  naturally 
draw  from  it  motives  of  conduct.  The  first,  conscious 
of  the  character  of  Slavery,  were  not  misled  by  it ;  the 
second,  dwelling  in  unconsciousness  of  its  true  character, 
surrender  blindly  to  its  barbarous  tendencies,  and,  veri- 
fying the  words  of  the  poet,  — 

"  So  perfect  is  their  misery, 
Not  once  perceive  their  foul  disfigurement, 
But  boast  themselves  more  comely  than  before."  1 

Mr.  President,  it  is  time  to  close  this  branch  of  the 
argument.  The  Barbarism  of  Slavery  has  been  exposed, 
first,  in  the  Law  of  Slavery,  with  its  five  pretensions, 
founded  on  the  assertion  of  property  in  man,  the  denial 
of  the  conjugal  relation,  the  infraction  of  the  parental 
tie,  the  exclusion  from  knowledge,  and  the  robbery 
of  the  fruits  of  another's  labor,  all  these  having  the 
single  object  of  compelling  men  to  work  without  wages, 
while  its  Barbarism  was  still  further  attested  by  trac- 
ing the  law  in  its  origin  to  barbarous  Africa ;  and, 
secondly,  it  has  been  exposed  in  a  careful  examination 
of  economical  results,  illustrated  by  contrast  between 
the  Free  States  and  the  Slave  States,  sustained  by  offi- 
cial figures.  From  this  exposure  I  proceeded  to  con- 
sider the  influence  on  Slave-Masters,  whose  true  char- 
acter stands  confessed,  —  first,  in  the  Law  of  Slavery, 
which  is  their  work,  —  next,  in  the  relations  between 
them  and  their  slaves,  maintained  by  three  inhuman 
instruments,  —  then,  in  their  intercourse  with  each  oth- 
er and  with  society:  and  here  we  have  seen  them  at 

1  Milton,  Comus,  73-75. 


THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  215 

home,  under  the  immediate  influence  of  Slavery,  also 
in  the  communities  of  which  they  are  a  part,  practising 
violence,  and  pushing  it  everywhere,  in  street-fight  and 
duel;  especially  raging  against  all  who  question  the 
pretensions  of  Slavery,  entering  even  into  the  Free 
States, —  but  not  in  lawless  outbreaks  only,  also  in 
official  acts,  as  of  Georgia  and  of  South  Carolina  re- 
garding two  Massachusetts  citizens,  —  and  then,  ascend- 
ing in  audacity,  entering  the  Halls  of  Congress,  where 
they  have  turned,  as  at  home,  against  all  who  oppose 
their  assumptions ;  while  the  whole  gloomy  array  of 
unquestionable  facts  is  closed  by  the  melancholy  un- 
consciousness which  constitutes  one  of  the  distinctive 
features  of  this  Barbarism. 

Such  is  my  answer  to  the  assumption  of  fact  in  be- 
half of  Slavery  by  Senators  on  the  other  side.  But 
before  passing  to  that  other  assumption  of  Constitu- 
tional Law,  which  forms  the  second  branch  of  this  dis- 
cussion, I  add  testimony  to  the  influence  of  Slavery  on 
Slave-Masters  in  other  countries,  which  is  too  important 
to  be  neglected,  and  may  properly  find  place  here. 

Among  those  who  have  done  most  to  press  forward 
in  Russia  that  sublime  act  of  emancipation  by  which 
the  present  Emperor  is  winning  lustre,  not  only  for  his 
own  country,  but  for  our  age,  is  M.  Tourgueneff.  Orig- 
inally a  Slave-Master  himself,  with  numerous  slaves, 
and  residing  where  Slavery  prevailed,  he  saw,  with  the 
instincts  of  a  noble  character,  the  essential  Barbarism 
of  this  relation,  and  in  an  elaborate  work  on  Russia, 
which  is  now  before  me,  exposed  it  with  rare  ability 
and  courage.  Thus  he  speaks  of  its  influence  on  Slave- 
Masters  :  — 


216  THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERT. 

"  But  if  Slavery  degrades  the  slave,  it  degrades  the  mas- 
ter more.  This  is  an  old  adage,  and  long  observation  has 
proved  to  me  that  this  adage  is  not  a  paradox.  In  fact, 
how  can  that  man  respect  his  own  dignity,  his  own  rights, 
who  has  not  learned  to  respect  either  the  rights  or  the  dig- 
nity of  his  fellow-man?  What  control  can  the  moral  and 
religious  sentiments  have  over  a  person  who  sees  himself 
invested  with  a  power  so  eminently  contrary  to  morality  and 
religion?  The  continual  exercise  of  an  unjust  claim,  even 
when  moderated,  ends  in  corrupting  the  character  of  the 

man,  and  perverting  his  judgment The  possession  of 

a  slave  being  the  result  of  injustice,  the  relations  of  the 
master  with  the  slave  cannot  be  otherwise  than  a  succession 
of  wrongs.  Among  good  masters  (and  it  is  agreed  so  to  call 
those  who  do  not  abuse  their  power  as  much  as  they  might) 
these  relations  are  invested  with  forms  less  repugnant  than 
among  other  masters ;  but  here  the  difference  ends.  Who 
can  remain  always  pure,  when,  induced  by  disposition,  ex- 
cited by  temper,  influenced  by  caprice,  he  may  with  im- 
punity oppress,  insult,  humiliate  his  fellow-men?  And  be 
it  remarked,  that  enlightenment,  civilization,  do  not  avail 
here.  The  enlightened  man,  the  civilized  man,  is  neverthe- 
less a  man  ;  that  he  may  not  oppress,  it  is  necessary  that  it 
should  be  impossible  for  him  to  oppress.  All  men  cannot, 
like  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  throw  the  cane  out  of  the  win- 
dow, when  they  feel  an  inclination  to  strike."1 

Another  authority,  unimpeachable  at  all  points,  whose 
fortune  it  has  been,  from  extensive  travels,  to  see  Slav- 
ery in  the  most  various  forms,  and  Slave-Masters  under 
the  most  various  conditions,  —  I  refer  to  the  great 
African  traveller,  Dr.  Livingstone,  —  thus  touches  the 
character  of  Slave-Masters  :  — 

"  I  can  never  cease  to  be  most  unfeignedly  thankful  that 
I  was  not  born  in  a  land  of  slaves.  No  one  can  under- 

1  La  Russie  et  Le«  Russes,  Tom.  II.  pp.  167, 168. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         217 

stand  the  effect  of  the  unutterable  meanness  of  the  slave 
system  on  the  minds  of  those  who,  but  for  the  strange  ob- 
liquity which  prevents  them  from  feeling  the  degradation  of 
not  being  gentlemen  enough  to  pay  for  services  rendered,  would 
be  equal  in  virtue  to  ourselves.  Fraud  becomes  as  natural 
to  them  as  '  paying  one's  way  '  is  to  the  rest  of  mankind."  * 

And  so  does  the  experience  of  Slavery  in  other  coun- 
tries confirm  the  sad  experience  among  us. 


SECOND  ASSUMPTION  OF  SLAVE-MASTERS. 

DISCARDING  now  all  presumptuous  boasts  for  Slavery, 
and  bearing  in  mind  its  essential  Barbarism,  I  come 
to  consider  that  second  assumption  of  Senators  on  the 
other  side,  which  is,  of  course,  inspired  by  the  first,  even 
if  not  its  immediate  consequence,  that,  under  the  Con- 
stitution, Slave-Masters  may  take  their  slaves  into  the 
National  Territories,  and  there  continue  to  hold  them,  as 
at  home  in  the  Slave  States,  —  and  that  this  would  be 
the  case  in  any  territory  newly  acquired,  by  purchase 
or  by  war,  as  of  Mexico  on  the  South  or  Canada  on 
the  North. 

Here  I  begin  with  the  remark,  that,  as  the  assumption 
of  Constitutional  Law  is  inspired  by  the  assumption  of 
fact  with  regard  to  the  "  ennobling  "  character  of  Slav- 
ery, so  it  must  lose  much,  if  not  all  of  its  force,  when 
the  latter  assumption  is  shown  to  be  false,  as  has  been 
done  to-day. 

When  Slavery  is  seen  to  be  the  Barbarism  which  it 
is,  there  are  few  who  would  not  cover  it  from  sight, 
rather  than  insist  upon  sending  it  abroad  with  the  flag 

1  Missionary  Travels,  Chap.  II.  p.  89. 


218         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

of  the  Eepublic.  Only  because  people  have  been  in- 
sensible to  its  true  character  have  they  tolerated  for  a 
moment  its  exorbitant  pretensions.  Therefore  this  long 
exposition,  where  Slavery  stands  forth  in  fivefold  Bar- 
barism, with  the  single  object  of  compelling  men  to 
work  without  wages,  naturally  prepares  the  way  to 
consider  the  assumption  of  Constitutional  Law. 

This  assumption  may  be  described  as  an  attempt 
to  Africanize  the  Constitution,  by  introducing  into  it 
the  barbarous  Law  of  Slavery,  originally  derived,  as  we 
have  seen,  from  barbarous  Africa,  —  and  then,  through 
such  Africanization  of  the  Constitution,  to  Africanize 
the  Territories,  and  Africanize  the  National  Govern- 
ment. In  using  this  language  to  express  the  obvious 
effect  of  this  assumption,  I  borrow  a  suggestive  term, 
first  employed  by  a  Portuguese  writer  at  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  when  protesting  against  the  spread  of 
Slavery  in  Brazil.1  Analyze  the  assumption,  and  it  is 
found  to  stand  on  two  pretensions,  either  of  which 
failing,  the  assumption  fails  also.  These  two  are,  first, 
the  peculiar  African  pretension  of  property  in  man,  — 
and,  secondly,  the  pretension  that  such  property  is 
recognized  in  the  Constitution. 

With  regard  to  the  first  of  these  pretensions,  I  might 
simply  refer  to  what  has  been  said  at  an  earlier  stage  of 
this  argument.  But  I  should  do  injustice  to  the  part  it 
plays  in  this  controversy,  if  I  did  not  again  notice  it. 
Then  I  sought  particularly  to  show  its  Barbarism  ;  now 
I  shall  show  something  more. 

Property  implies  an  owner  and  a  thing  owned.  On 
the  one  side  is  a  human  being,  and  on  the  other  side  a 
thing.  But  the  very  idea  of  a  human  being  necessarily 

1  Koster,  Travels  in  Brazil,  p.  449. 


THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  219 

excludes  the  idea  of  property  in  that  being,  just  as  the 
very  idea  of  a  thing  necessarily  excludes  the  idea  of  a 
human  being.  It  is  clear  that  a  thing  cannot  be  a 
human  being,  and  it  is  equally  clear  that  a  human  be- 
ing cannot  be  a  thing.  And  the  law  itself,  when  it 
adopts  the  phrase,  "  relation  of  master  and  slave,"  con- 
fesses its  reluctance  to  sanction  the  claim  of  property. 
It  shrinks  from  the  pretension  of  Senators,  and  satisfies 
itself  with  a  formula  which  does  not  openly  degrade 
human  nature. 

If  this  property  does  exist,  out  of  what  title  is  it 
derived  ?  Under  what  ordinance  of  Nature  or  of  Na- 
ture's God  is  one  human  being  stamped  an  owner  and 
another  stamped  a  thing  ?  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons. Where  is  the  sanction  for  this  respect  of  certain 
persons  to  a  degree  which  becomes  outrage  to  other 
persons  ?  God  is  the  Father  of  the  Human  Family, 
and  we  all  are  his  children.  Where,  then,  is  the  sanc- 
tion of  this  pretension  by  which  a  brother  lays  violent 
hands  upon  a  brother  ?  To  ask  these  questions  is  hu- 
miliating ;  but  it  is  clear  there  can  be  but  one  response. 
There  is  no  sanction  for  such  pretension,  no  ordinance 
for  it,  no  title.  On  all  grounds  of  reason,  and  waiving 
all  questions  of  "  positive  "  statute,  the  Vermont  Judge 
was  nobly  right,  when,  rejecting  the  claim  of  a  Slave- 
Master,  he  said,  "  No,  not  until  you  show  a  Bill  of 
Sale  from  the  Almighty."  Nothing  short  of  this  im- 
possible link  in  the  chain  of  title  would  do.  I  know 
something  of  the  great  judgments  by  which  the  juris- 
prudence of  our  country  is  illustrated;  but  I  doubt  if 
there  is  anything  in  the  wisdom  of  Marshall,  the  learn- 
ing of  Story,  or  the  completeness  of  Kent,  which  will 
brighten  with  time  like  this  honest  decrea 


220         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

The  intrinsic  feebleness  of  this  pretension  is  apparent 
in  the  intrinsic  feebleness  of  the  arguments  by  which  it 
is  maintained.  These  are  twofold,  and  both  were  put 
forth  in  recent  debate  by  the  Senator  from  Mississippi 
[  Mr.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS]. 

The  first  is  the  alleged  inferiority  of  the  African  race, — 
an  argument  instructive  to  the  Slave-Master.  The  law 
of  life  is  labor.  Slavery  is  a  perpetual  effort  to  evade 
this  law  by  compelling  the  labor  of  others ;  and  such  an 
attempt  at  evasion  is  naturally  supported  by  the  pre- 
tension, that,  because  the  African  is  inferior,  therefore 
he  may  be  enslaved.  But  this  pretension,  while  sur- 
rendering to  Slavery  a  whole  race,  leaves  it  uncertain 
whether  the  same  principle  may  not  be  applied  to  other 
races,  as  to  the  polished  Japanese  who  are  now  the 
guests  of  the  nation,1  and  even  to  persons  of  obvious 
inferiority  among  the  white  race.  Indeed,  the  latter  pre- 
tension is  openly  set  up  in  other  quarters.  The  "  Eich- 
mond  Enquirer,"  a  leading  journal  of  Slave-Masters, 
declares,  "  The  principle  of  Slavery  is  in  itself  right, 
and  does  not  depend  on  difference  of  complexion"  And  a 
leading  writer  among  Slave-Masters,  George  Fitzhugh, 
of  Virginia,  in  his  "  Sociology  for  the  South,"  declares, 
"  Slavery,  black  or  white,  is  right  and  necessary.  Na- 
ture has  made  the  weak  in  mind  or  body  for  slaves." 
In  the  same  vein,  a  Democratic  paper  of  South  Carolina 
has  said,  "  Slavery  is  the  natural  and  normal  condition 
of  the  laboring  man,  Uack  or  white" 

These  more  extravagant  pretensions  reveal  still  fur- 
ther the  feebleness  of  the  pretension  put  forth  by  the 

1  A  considerable  embassy  with  a  numerous  suite  was  received  at  Wash- 
ington about  this  time. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         221 

Senator,  while  instances,  accumulating  constantly,  attest 
the  difficulty  of  discriminating  between  the  two  races. 
Mr.  Paxton,  of  Virginia,  tells  us  that  "the  best  blood 
in  Virginia  flows  in  the  veins  of  the  slaves  "  ;  and  more 
than  one  fugitive  has  been  advertised  latterly  as  pos- 
sessing "  a  round  face,"  "  blue  eyes,"  "  flaxen  hair,"  and 
as  "  escaping  under  the  pretence  of  being  a  white  man." 
This  is  not  the  time  to  enter  upon  the  great  question 
of  race,  in  the  various  lights  of  religion,  history,  and 
science.  Sure  I  am  that  they  who  understand  it  best 
will  be  least  disposed  to  the  pretension  which,  on  an 
assumed  ground  of  inferiority,  would  condemn  one  race 
to  be  the  property  of  another.  If  the  African  race  be 
inferior,  as  is  alleged,  then  unquestionably  a  Christian 
Civilization  must  lift  it  from  degradation,  not  by  the 
lash  and  the  chain,  not  by  this  barbarous  pretension  of 
ownership,  but  by  a  generous  charity,  which  shall  be 
measured  precisely  by  the  extent  of  inferiority. 

The  second  argument  put  forward  for  this  pretension, 
and  twice  repeated  by  the  Senator  from  Mississippi,  is, 
that  the  Africans  are  the  posterity  of  Ham,  the  son  of 
Noah,  through  Canaan,  who  was  cursed  by  Noah,  to  be 
the  "servant"  —  that  is  the  word  employed  —  of  his 
brethren,  and  that  this  malediction  has  fallen  upon  all 
his  descendants,  who  are  accordingly  devoted  by  God 
to  perpetual  bondage,  not  only  in  the  third  and  fourth 
generations,  but  throughout  all  succeeding  time.  Sure- 
ly, when  the  Senator  quoted  Scripture  to  enforce  the 
claim  of  Slave-Masters,  he  did  not  intend  a  jest.  And 
yet  it  is  hard  to  suppose  him  in  earnest.  The  Sena- 
tor is  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs, 
where  he  is  doubtless  experienced.  He  may,  perhaps, 


222         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

set  a  squadron  in  the  field ;  but,  evidently,  he  has  con- 
sidered very  little  the  text  of  Scripture  on  which  he 
relies.  The  Senator  assumes  that  it  has  fixed  the 
doom  of  the  colored  race,  leaving  untouched  the  white 
race.  Perhaps  he  does  not  know,  that,  in  the  worst 
days  of  the  Polish  aristocracy,  this  same  argument  was 
adopted  as  excuse  for  holding  white  serfs  in  bondage, 
precisely  as  it  is  now  put  forward  by  the  Senator,  and 
that  even  to  this  day  the  angry  Polish  noble  addresses 
his  white  peasant  as  "  Son  of  Ham." 

It  hardly  comports  with  the  gravity  of  this  debate  to 
dwell  on  such  an  argument ;  and  yet  I  cannot  go  wrong, 
if,  for  the  sake  of  a  much  injured  race,  I  brush  it  away. 
To  justify  the  Senator  in  his  application  of  this  ancient 
curse,  he  must  maintain  at  least  five  different  proposi- 
tions, as  essential  links  in  the  chain  of  the  Afric- Ameri- 
can slave  :  first,  that  by  this  malediction  Canaan  him- 
self was  actually  changed  into  a  "  chattel,"  —  whereas  he 
is  simply  made  the  "  servant "  of  his  brethren ;  secondly, 
that  not  merely  Canaan,  but  all  his  posterity,  to  the  re- 
motest generation,  was  so  changed,  —  whereas  the  lan- 
guage has  no  such  extent ;  thirdly,  that  the  Afric- Ameri- 
can actually  belongs  to  the  posterity  of  Canaan,  —  an 
ethnological  assumption  absurdly  difficult  to  establish ; 
fourthly,  that  each  of  the  descendants  of  Shem  and 
Japheth  has  a  right  to  hold  an  Afric- American  fellow- 
man  as  a  "chattel,"  —  a  proposition  which  finds  no 
semblance  of  support;  and,  fifthly,  that  every  Slave- 
Master  is  truly  descended  from  Shem  or  Japheth,  —  a 
pedigree  which  no  anxiety  can  establish.  This  plain 
analysis,  which  may  fitly  excite  a  smile,  shows  the 
fivefold  absurdity  of  an  attempt  to  found  this  preten- 
sion on  any 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         223 

"  successive  title,  long  and  dark, 
Drawn  from  the  mouldy  rolls  of  Noah's  ark."  1 

From  the  character  of  these  two  arguments  for  prop- 
erty in  man,  I  am  brought  to  its  denial 

It  is  natural  that  Senators  who  pretend,  that,  by  the 
Law  of  Nature,  man  may  hold  property  in  man,  should 
find  this  pretension  in  the  Constitution.  But  the  pre- 
tension is  as  much  without  foundation  in  the  Constitu- 
tion as  it  is  without  foundation  in  Nature.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  there  is  not  one  sentence,  phrase, 
or  word,  not  a  single  suggestion,  hint,  or  equivocation, 
even,  out  of  which  any  such  pretension  can  be  im- 
plied,—  while  great  national  acts  and  important  contem- 
poraneous declarations  in  the  Convention  which  framed 
the  Constitution,  in  different  forms  of  language,  and 
also  controlling  rules  of  interpretation,  render  this  pre- 
tension impossible.  Partisans,  taking  counsel  of  their 
desires,  find  in  the  Constitution,  as  in  the  Scriptures, 
what  they  incline  to  find;  and  never  was  this  more 
apparent  than  when  Slave-Masters  deceive  themselves 
so  far  as  to  find  in  the  Constitution  a  pretension  which 
exists  only  in  their  own  minds. 

Looking  for  one  moment  juridically  at  this  question, 
we  are  brought  to  the  conclusion,  according  to  the  ad- 
mission of  courts  and  jurists,  first  in  Europe,  and  then  in 
our  own  country,  that  Slavery  can  be  derived  from  no 
doubtful  word  or  mere  pretension,  but  only  from  clear 
and  special  recognition.  "The  state  of  Slavery,"  said 
Lord  Mansfield,  pronouncing  judgment  in  the  great  case 
of  Somerset,  "  is  of  such  a  nature  that  it  is  incapable  of 
being  introduced  on  any  reasons,  moral  or  political,  but 

*  Dryden,  Absalom  and  Acbitophel,  Part  I.  301,  802. 


224          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

only  by  positive  law.  It  is  so  odious  that  nothing  can 
be  suffered  to  support  it  but  POSITIVE  LAW,"  —  that  is, 
express  words  of  a  written  text ;  and  this  principle, 
which  commends  itself  to  the  enlightened  reason,  is 
adopted  by  several  courts  in  the  Slave  States.  Of  course 
every  leaning  must  be  against  Slavery.  A  pretension 
so  peculiar  and  offensive,  so  hostile  to  reason,  so  repug- 
nant to  the  Laws  of  Nature  and  the  inborn  Eights  of 
Man,  which,  in  all  its  fivefold  wrong,  has  no  other  ob- 
ject than  to  compel  fellow-men  to  work  without  wages, 
—  such  a  pretension,  so  tyrannical,  so  unjust,  so  mean, 
so  barbarous,  can  find  no  place  in  any  system  of  Gov- 
ernment, unless  by  virtue  of  positive  sanction.  It  can 
spring  from  no  doubtful  phrase.  It  must  be  declared 
by  unambiguous  words,  incapable  of  a  double  sense. 

At  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  this  rule,  pro- 
mulgated in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  by  the  voice 
of  the  most  finished  magistrate  in  English  history,  was 
as  well  known  in  our  country  as  any  principle  of  the 
Common  Law ;  especially  was  it  known  to  the  eminent 
lawyers  in  the  Convention ;  nor  is  it  too  much  to  say 
that  the  Constitution  was  framed  with  this  rule  on 
Slavery  as  a  guide.  And  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  at  a  later  day,  by  the  lips  of  Chief- 
Justice  Marshall,  promulgated  this  same  rule,  in  words 
stronger  even  than  those  of  Lord  Mansfield,  saying : 
"  Where  rights  are  infringed,  where  fundamental  princi- 
ples are  overthrown,  where  the  general  system  of  the 
laws  is  departed  from,  the  legislative  intention  must  be 
expressed  with  irresistible  clearness,  to  induce  a  court  of 
justice  to  suppose  a  design  to  effect  such  objects."  x  It 
is  well  known,  however,  that  these  two  declarations  are 

1  United  States  v.  Fisher  et  als.,  2  Cranch,  390. 


THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  225 

little  more  than  new  forms  for  the  ancient  rule  of  the 
Common  Law,  as  expressed  by  Fortescue :  Impius  et 
crudelis  judicandubs  est  qui  Libertati  non  favet :  "  He  is 
to  be  adjudged  impious  and  cruel  who  does  not  favor 
Liberty,"  *  —  and  as  expressed  by  Blackstone,  "  The  law 
is  always  ready  to  catch  at  anything  in  favor  of  Lib- 
erty."2 

But,  as  no  prescription  runs  against  the  King,  so  no 
prescription  is  allowed  to  run  against  Slavery,  while 
all  the  early  victories  of  Freedom  are  set  aside  by  the 
Slave-Masters  of  to-day.  The  prohibition  of  Slavery 
in  the  Missouri  Territory,  and  all  the  precedents,  legis- 
lative and  judicial,  for  the  exercise  of  this  power,  ad- 
mitted from  the  beginning  until  now,  are  overturned. 
At  last,  bolder  grown,  Slave-Masters  do  not  hesitate  to 
assail  that  principle  of  jurisprudence  which  makes  Slav- 
ery the  creature  of  "  positive  law "  alone,  to  be  upheld 
only  by  words  of  "  irresistible  clearness:"  The  case  of 
Somerset,  in  which  this  great  rule  was  declared,  is  im- 
peached on  this  floor,  as  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence is  also  impeached.  And  here  the  Senator  from 
Louisiana  [  Mr.  BENJAMIN]  takes  the  lead,  with  the  asser- 
tion, that  in  the  history  of  English  law  there  are  earlier 
cases,  where  a  contrary  principle  was  declared.  Permit 
me  to  say  that  no  such  cases,  even  if  hunted  up  in  au- 
thentic reports,  can  impair  the  influence  of  this  well- 
considered  authority.  The  Senator  knows  well  that  an 
old  and  barbarous  case  is  a  poor  answer  to  a  principle 
brought  into  activity  by  the  demands  of  advancing 
Civilization,  and  which,  once  recognized,  can  never  be 
denied.  Pardon  me,  if  I  remind  him  that  Jurispru- 

1  De  Laudibus  Legnm  Anglise,  Gap.  XLII. 
3  Commentaries,  Vol.  II.  p.  94. 
VOL.  VI.  — 15 


226         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

dence  is  not  a  dark-lantern,  shining  in  a  narrow  circle, 
and  never  changing,  but  a  gladsome  light,  which,  slowly 
emerging  from  original  darkness,  grows  and  spreads 
with  human  improvement,  until  at  last  it  becomes  as 
broad  and  general  as  the  Light  of  Day.  When  the 
Senator,  in  this  age,  leaguing  all  his  forces,  undertakes 
to  drag  down  that  immortal  principle  which  made  Slav- 
ery impossible  in  England,  as,  thank  God!  it  makes 
Slavery  impossible  under  the  Constitution,  he  vainly 
tugs  to  drag  down  a  luminary  from  the  sky. 

The  enormity  of  the  pretension  that  Slavery  is  sanc- 
tioned by  the  Constitution  becomes  still  more  flagrant, 
when  we  read  the  Constitution  in  the  light  of  great  na- 
tional acts  and  of  contemporaneous  authorities.  First 
comes  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  illuminated 
initial  letter  of  our  history,  which  in  familiar  words 
announces  "  that  all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they 
are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  unaliena- 
ble  rights ;  that  among  these  are  Life,  Liberty,  and  the 
Pursuit  of  Happiness ;  that  to  secure  these  rights  gov- 
ernments are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  Nor  does 
this  Declaration,  binding  the  consciences  of  all  who 
enjoy  the  privileges  it  secured,  stand  alone.  There  is 
another  national  act,  less  known,  but  in  itself  a  key  to 
the  first,  when,  at  the  successful  close  of  the  Revolution, 
the  Continental  Congress,  in  a  solemn  Address  to  the 
States,  grandly  announced :  "  Let  it  be  remembered 
that  it  has  ever  been  the  pride  and  boast  of  America, 
tliat  the  rights  for  which  she  contended  were  the  Rights 
of  Human  Nature.  By  the  blessing  of  the  Author  of 
these  rights  on  the  means  exerted  for  their  defence,  they 
have  prevailed  against  all  opposition,  and  form  THE 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         227 

BASIS  of  thirteen  independent  States." l  Now,  what- 
ever may  be  the  privileges  of  States  in  their  individ- 
ual capacities,  within  their  several  local  jurisdictions, 
no  power  can  be  attributed  to  the  nation,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  positive,  unequivocal  grant,  inconsistent  with 
these  two  national  declarations.  Here  is  the  national 
heart,  the  national  soul,  the  national  will,  the  national 
voice,  which  must  inspire  our  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution,  and  enter  into  and  diffuse  itself  through 
all  the  national  legislation.  Such  are  commanding 
authorities  which  make  "Life,  Liberty,  and  the  Pur- 
suit of  Happiness,"  and,  in  more  general  words,  "the 
Eights  of  Human  Nature,"  as  the  basis  of  our  national 
institutions,  without  distinction  of  race,  or  absurd  rec- 
ognition of  the  curse  of  Ham. 

In  strict  harmony  with  these  are  the  many  utter- 
ances in  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitu- 
tion: of  Gouverneur  Morris,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  an- 
nounced that  "he  never  would  concur  in  upholding 
Domestic  Slavery  ;  it  was  a  nefarious  institution  " ; 2  of 
Elbridge  Gerry,  of  Massachusetts,  who  said  that  "  we 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  conduct  of  the  States  as 
to  slaves,  but  ought  to  be  careful  not  to  give  any  sanc- 
tion to  it "  ; 8  of  Roger  Sherman  and  Oliver  Ellsworth, 
of  Connecticut,  and  Mr.  Gorham,  of  Massachusetts,  who 
all  concurred  with  Mr.  Gerry;4  and  especially  of  Mr. 
Madison,  of  Virginia,  who,  in  a  phrase  which  cannot  be 
quoted  too  often,  "  THOUGHT  IT  WRONG  TO  ADMIT  IN  THE 
CONSTITUTION  THE  IDEA  THAT  THERE  COULD  BE  PROP- 

1  Address  to  the  States,  April  26,  1788:  Journal  of  Congress,  Vol.  VUL 
p.  201. 

2  Madison's  Debates  in  the  Federal  Convention,  August  8, 1787. 
>  Ibid.,  August  22. 

*  Ibid.,  August  21,  22,  26. 


228         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

ERTY  IN  MEN."  l  And,  lastly,  as  if  to  complete  the  elab- 
orate work  of  Freedom,  and  to  embody  all  these  utter- 
ances, the  word  "  servitude,"  which  had  been  allowed 
in  the  clause  on  the  apportionment  of  Eepresentatives, 
was  struck  out,  and  the  word  "  service "  substituted. 
This  final  and  total  exclusion  from  the  Constitution  of 
the  idea  of  property  in  man  was  on  the  motion  of  Mr. 
Randolph,  of  Virginia ;  and  the  reason  assigned  for  the 
substitution,  according  to  Mr.  Madison,  in  his  authentic 
report  of  the  debate,  was,  that  "  the  former  was  thought 
to  express  the  condition  of  slaves,  and  the  latter  the 
obligations  of  fwe  persons."2  Thus,  at  every  point,  by 
great  national  declarations,  by  frank  utterances  in  the 
Convention,  and  by  positive  act  in  adjusting  the  text  of 
the  Constitution,  was  the  idea  of  property  in  man  un- 
equivocally rejected. 

This  pretension,  which  may  be  dismissed  as  utterly 
baseless,  becomes  absurd,  when  it  is  considered  to  what 
result  it  necessarily  conducts.  If  the  Barbarism  of  Slav- 
ery, in  all  its  fivefold  wrong,  is  really  embodied  in  the 
Constitution,  so  as  to  be  beyond  reach  of  prohibition, 
either  Congressional  or  local,  in  the  Territories,  then, 
for  the  same  reason,  it  must  be  beyond  reach  of  pro- 
hibition, even  by  local  authority,  in  the  States  them- 
selves, and,  just  so  long  as  the  Constitution  continues 
unchanged,  Territories  and  States  alike  must  be  exposed 
to  all  its  blasting  influences.  Do  we  not  witness  this 
result  in  open  attempts  now  made  by  Slave-Masters  to 
travel  with  their  slaves  in  the  Free  States  ?  Calling 
the  slave-roll  in  the  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill,  accord- 
ing to  well-known  menace,  will  be  the  triumph  of  this 

1  Madison's  Debates  in  the  Federal  Convention,  August  25,  1787. 

2  Ibid.,  September  13. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         229 

consummation.  And  yet  this  pretension,  which  in  nat- 
ural consequences  overturns  State  Rights,  is  announced 
by  Senators  who  profess  to  be  special  guardians  of  State 
Eights. 

Nor  does  this  pretension  derive  any  support  from  the 
much  debated  clause  in  the  Constitution  for  the  ren- 
dition of  fugitives  from  "  service  or  labor,"  on  which 
so  much  stress  is  constantly  put.  I  do  not  occupy 
your  time  now  on  this  head  for  two  reasons :  first,  be- 
cause, having  on  a  former  occasion  exhibited  with  great 
fulness  the  character  of  that  clause,  I  am  unwilling 
now  thus  incidentally  to  open  the  question  upon  it; 
and,  secondly,  because,  whatever  may  be  its  character, 

—  admitting  that  it  confers  power  upon  Congress, — 
and  admitting,  also,  what  is  often  denied,  that,  in  defi- 
ance of  commanding  rules  of  interpretation,  the  equivo- 
cal words  there  employed  have  that  "  irresistible  clear- 
ness "  which  is  necessary  in  taking  away  Human  Rights, 

—  yet  nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that  the  fugitives, 
whosoever  they  be,  are  regarded  under  the  Constitution 
as  persons,  and  not  as  property. 

I  disdain  to  dwell  on  that  other  argument,  brought 
forward  by  Senators,  who,  denying  the  Equality  of  Men, 
speciously  assert  the  Equality  of  the  States,  and  from 
this  principle,  true  in  many  respects,  jump  to  the  con- 
clusion, that  Slave-Masters  are  entitled,  in  the  name  of 
Equality,  to  take  slaves  into  the  National  Territories, 
under  solemn  safeguard  of  the  Constitution.  This  ar- 
gument comes  back  to  the  first  pretension,  that  slaves 
are  recognized  as  "  property  "  in  the  Constitution.  To 
that  pretension,  already  amply  exposed,  we  are  always 
brought,  nor  can  any  sounding  allegation  of  State 
Equality  avoid  it.  And  yet  this  very  argument  be- 


230         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

trays  the  inconsistency  of  its  authors.  If  persons  held 
to  service  in  the  Slave  States  are  "  property  "  under  the 
Constitution,  then  under  the  provision  known  as  "  the 
three-fifths  rule,"  which  founds  representation  in  the 
other  House  on  such  persons,  there  is  a  property  repre- 
sentation from  the  Slave  States,  with  voice  and  vote, 
while  there  is  no  such  property  representation  from  the 
Free  States.  With  glaring  inequality,  the  representa- 
tion of  Slave  States  is  founded,  first,  on  "  persons,"  and, 
secondly,  on  a  large  part  of  their  pretended  property, 
while  the  representation  of  the  Free  States  is  founded 
simply  on  "  persons,"  leaving  all  their  boundless  millions 
of  property  unrepresented.  Thus,  whichever  way  we 
approach  it,  the  absurdity  of  this  pretension  becomes 
manifest.  Assuming  the  pretension  of  property  in  man 
under  the  Constitution,  you  upset  the  whole  theory  of 
State  Equality,  for  you  disclose  a  gigantic  inequality 
between  the  Slave  States  and  the  Free  States ;  and  as- 
suming the  Equality  of  States,  in  the  House  of  liepre- 
sentatives  as  elsewhere,  you  upset  the  whole  preten- 
sion of  property  in  man  under  the  Constitution. 

Nor  will  I  deign  to  dwell  on  one  other  argument, 
which,  in  the  name  of  Popular  Sovereignty,  undertakes 
to  secure  for  the  people  in  the  Territories  the  wicked 
power —  sometimes,  by  cont  isioii  of  terms,  called  "  right " 
—  to  enslave  their  fellow-men:  us  if  this  pretension  was 
not  crushed  at  once  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
when  it  announced  that  all  governments  "  derive  their 
just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed  " ;  and  as 
if  anywhere  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Constitution, 
which  contains  no  sentence,  phrase,  or  word  sanction- 
ing this  outrage,  and  which  carefully  excludes  the  idea 
of  property  in  man,  while  it  surrounds  all  persons  with 


THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY.  231 

the  highest  safeguards  of  a  citizen,  such  pretension 
could  exist.  Whatever  it  may  be  elsewhere,  Popular 
Sovereignty  within  the  sphere  of  the  Constitution  has 
its  limitations.  Claiming  for  all  the  largest  liberty  of 
a  true  Civilization,  it  compresses  all  within  the  con- 
straints of  Justice ;  nor  does  it  allow  any  man  to  assert  a 
right  to  do  what  he  pleases,  except  when  he  pleases  to  do 
right.  As  well  within  the  Territories  attempt  to  make 
a  king  as  attempt  to  make  a  slave.  Beyond  all  doubt, 
no  majority  can  be  permitted  to  pass  on  the  question, 
whether  fellow-men  shall  be  bought  and  sold  like  cattle. 
There  are  rights  which  cannot  be  "  voted  up  "  or  "  voted 
down,"  according  to  phrases  of  the  Senator  from  Illi- 
nois [Mr.  DOUGLAS],  for  they  are  above  all  votes.  The 
very  act  of  voting  upon  the  question  of  reducing  men 
to  bondage  is  a  heinous  wrong,  for  it  assumes  that  we 
may  do  unto  others  what  we  would  not  have  them  do 
unto  us.  But  this  pretension,  —  rejected  alike  by  every 
Slave-Master  and  by  every  lover  of  Freedom,  — 

"  Where  I  behold  a  factions  band  agree 
To  call  it  Freedom,  when  themselves  are  free,"  *  — 

proceeding  originally  from  vain  effort  to  avoid  the  im- 
pending question  between  Freedom  and  Slavery,  —  as- 
suming a  delusive  phrase  of  Freedom  as  a  cloak  for 
Slavery,  —  speaking  with  the  voice  of  Jacob,  while  its 
hands  are  the  hands  of  Esau,  —  and,  by  plausible  nick- 
name, enabling  politicians  sometimes  to  deceive  the 
public,  and  sometimes  even  to  deceive  themselves, — 
may  be  dismissed  with  other  kindred  pretensions  for 
Slavery;  while  the  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr.  DOUG- 
LAS], who,  if  not  inventor,  has  been  its  boldest  defender, 
will  learn  that  Slave-Masters,  for  whom  he  has  done  so 

1  Goldsmith,  The  Traveller,  383,  384. 


232         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

much,  cannot  afford  to  be  generous,  —  that  their  grati- 
tude is  founded  on  what  they  expect,  and  not  on  what 
they  receive,  —  and  that,  having  its  root  in  desire  rather 
than  in  fruition,  it  necessarily  withers  and  dies  with  the 
power  to  serve  them.  The  Senator,  revolving  these 
things,  may  confess  the  difficulty  of  his  position,  and 
perhaps 

"  remember  Milo's  end, 
Wedged  in  that  timber  which  he  strove  to  rend."  * 

The  pretension  that  in  the  Territories  Slavery  may 
be  "  voted  up  "  or  "  voted  down,"  as  the  few  people 
there  see  fit,  is  a  novelty,  and  its  partisans,  besides  a 
general  oblivion  of  great  principles,  most  strangely  for- 
get the  power  of  Congress  "  to  regulate  commerce  with 
foreign  nations  and  among  the  several  States,"  limited 
only  by  temporary  exception  in  favor  of  "the  migra- 
tion or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  States 
now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit"  until  1808. 
These  express  words,  solemnly  accepted  as  part  of  the 
Constitution,  attest  the  power  of  Congress  to  prevent 
"  the  migration "  of  slaves  into  the  Territories.  The 
migration  or  importation  of  slaves  into  any  State  ex- 
isting at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  was  toler- 
ated until  1808 ;  but  from  that  date  the  power  of  Con- 
gress became  plenary  to  prohibit  their  "importation" 
from  abroad  or  "  migration "  «mong  existing  States, 
while  from  the  beginning  this  power  was  plenary  to 
prevent  their  "  migration  "  into  the  Territories.  And  as 
early  as  1804  Congress  exercised  this  power,  by  pro- 
viding that  no  slave  should  be  introduced  into  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Orleans,  except  by  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  removing  thither  for  actual  settlement,  and  at 

1  Boscommon.  Essay  on  Translated  Verse,  87,  88. 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         233 

the  time  bond  fide  owner  of  such  slave ;  and  every  slave 
imported  or  brought  into  the  Territory,  contrary  to  this 
provision,  is  declared  free.1  In  this  unquestioned  exer- 
cise of  a  beneficent  power,  at  a  time  when  the  authors 
of  the  Constitution  were  still  on  the  stage,  and  the  tem- 
porary exception  in  favor  of  existing  States  was  in  force, 
we  have  a  precedent  of  unanswerable  authority,  estab- 
lishing the  power  of  Congress  to  exclude  Slavery  from 
the  Territories,  even  if  it  be  assumed,  that,  under  the 
Constitution,  this  five-headed  Barbarism  can  find  place 
anywhere  within  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  Na- 
tion. 

Here  I  close  this  branch  of  the  argument,  which  I 
have  treated  less  fully  than  the  first,  partly  because 
time  and  strength  fail  me,  but  chiefly  because  the 
Barbarism  of  Slavery,  when  fully  established,  super- 
sedes all  other  inquiry.  Enough  is  done  on  this  head. 
At  the  risk  of  repetition,  I  gather  it  together.  The 
assumption,  that  Slave-Masters,  under  the  Constitution, 
may  take  their  slaves  into  Territories  and  continue  to 
hold  them  as  in  States,  stands  on  two  pretensions, — 
first,  that  man  may  hold  property  in  man,  and,  sec- 
ondly, that  this  property  is  recognized  in  the  Con- 
stitution. But  we  have  seen  that  the  pretended  prop- 
erty in  man  stands  on  no  reason,  while  the  two  special 
arguments  by  which  it  is  asserted  —  first,  an  alleged 
inferiority  of  race,  and,  secondly,  the  ancient  curse  of 
Ham  —  are  grossly  insufficient  to  uphold  such  preten- 
sion. And  we  have  next  seen  that  this  pretension 
has  as  little  support  in  the  Constitution  as  in  reason; 

1  Acts  of  8th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  Gh.  88,  sec.  10,  March  26,  1804:  United 
States  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  II.  p.  286. 


234         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

that  Slavery  is  of  such  an  offensive  character,  that 
it  can  find  support  only  in  "positive"  sanction,  and 
words  of  "  irresistible  clearness  " ;  that  this  benign  rule, 
questioned  in  the  Senate,  is  consistent  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  an  advanced  Civilization  ;  that  no  such  "  posi- 
tive "  sanction,  in  words  of  "  irresistible  clearness,"  can 
be  found  in  the  Constitution,  while,  in  harmony  with 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  Address  of 
the  Continental  Congress,  the  contemporaneous  decla- 
rations in  the  Convention,  and  especially  the  act  of 
the  Convention  substituting  "  service  "  for  "  servitude," 
on  the  ground  that  the  latter  expressed  "  the  condition 
of  slaves,"  all  attest  that  the  pretension  that  man  can 
hold  property  in  man  was  carefully,  scrupulously,  and 
completely  excluded  from  the  Constitution,  so  that  it 
has  no  semblance  of  support  in  that  sacred  text ;  nor  is 
this  pretension,  which  is  unsupported  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, helped  by  the  two  arguments,  one  in  the  name  of 
State  Equality,  and  the  other  in  the  name  of  Popular 
Sovereignty,  both  of  which  are  properly  put  aside. 

Sir,  the  true  principle,  which,  reversing  all  assump- 
tions of  Slave-Masters,  makes  Freedom  national  and 
Slavery  sectional,  while  every  just  claim  of  the  Slave 
States  is  harmonized  with  the  irresistible  predominance 
of  Freedom  under  the  Constitution,  was  declared  at 
Chicago.1  Not  questioning  the  right  of  each  State, 
whether  South  Carolina  or  Turkey,  Virginia  or  Russia, 
to  order  and  control  its  domestic  institutions  accord- 
ing to  its  own  judgment  exclusively,  the  Convention 
there  assembled  has  explicitly  announced  Freedom  to 

1  By  the  Republican  Convention,  which  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
adopted  a  platform  of  principles. 


THE  BABBAEISM  OF  SLAVEKY.         235 

be  "the  normal  condition  of  all  the  territory  of  the 
United  States,"  and  has  explicitly  denied  "  the  author- 
ity of  Congress,  of  a  Territorial  Legislature,  or  of  any 
individuals,  to  give  legal  existence  to  Slavery  in  any 
Territory  of  the  United  States."  Such  is  the  trium- 
phant response  by  the  aroused  millions  of  the  North 
to  the  assumption  of  Slave-Masters,  that  the  Consti- 
tution, of  its  own  force,  carries  Slavery  into  the  Ter- 
ritories, and  also  to  the  device  of  politicians,  that  the 
people  of  the  Territories,  in  the  exercise  of  a  dishonest 
Popular  Sovereignty,  may  plant  Slavery  there.  This 
response  is  complete  at  all  points,  whether  the  Consti- 
tution acts  upon  the  Territories  before  their  organiza- 
tion, or  only  afterward ;  for,  in  the  absence  of  a  Terri- 
torial Government,  there  can  be  no  "  positive "  law  in 
words  of  "irresistible  clearness"  for  Slavery,  as  there 
can  be  no  such  law,  when  a  Territorial  Government  is 
organized,  under  the  Constitution.  Thus  the  normal 
condition  of  the  Territories  is  confirmed  by  the  Con- 
stitution, which,  when  extended  over  them,  renders  Slav- 
ery impossible,  while  it  writes  upon  the  soil  and  en- 
graves upon  the  rock  everywhere  the  law  of  impartial 
Freedom,  without  distinction  of  color  or  race. 

Mr.  President,  this  argument  is  now  closed.  Pardon 
me  for  the  time  I  have  occupied.  It  is  long  since  I 
made  any  such  claim  upon  your  attention.  Pardon 
me,  also,  if  I  have  said  anything  I  ought  not  to  have 
said.  I  have  spoken  frankly  and  from  the  heart, — 
if  severely,  yet  only  with  the  severity  of  a  sorrowful 
candor,  calling  things  by  their  right  names,  and  letting 
historic  facts  tell  their  unimpeachable  story.  I  have 
spoken  in  patriotic  hope  of  contributing  to  the  wel- 


236         THE  BAKBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

fare  of  my  country,  and  also  in  assured  conviction  that 
this  utterance  to-day  will  find  response  in  generous 
souls.  I  believe  that  I  have  said  nothing  which  is  not 
sustained  by  well-founded  argument  or  well-founded 
testimony,  nothing  which  can  be  controverted  without 
direct  assault  upon  reason  or  upon  truth. 

The  two  assumptions  of  Slave-Masters  are  answered. 
But  this  is  not  enough.  Let  the  answer  become  a  legis- 
lative act,  by  the  admission  of  Kansas  as  a  Free  State. 
Then  will  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery  be  repelled,  and  the 
pretension  of  property  in  man  be  rebuked.  Such  an  act, 
closing  this  long  struggle  by  assurance  of  peace  to  the 
Territory,  if  not  of  tranquillity  to  the  whole  country,  will 
be  more  grateful  still  as  herald  of  that  better  day,  near 
at  hand,  when  Freedom  will  find  a  home  everywhere 
under  the  National  Government,  when  the  National 
Flag,  wherever  it  floats,  on  sea  or  land,  within  the  na- 
tional jurisdiction,  will  cover  none  but  freemen,  and  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  now  reviled  in  the  name 
of  Slavery,  will  be  reverenced  as  the  American  Magna 
Charta  of  Human  Rights.  Nor  is  this  all.  Such  an  act 
will  be  the  first  stage  in  those  triumphs  by  which  the 
Republic,  lifted  in  character  so  as  to  become  an  ex- 
ample to  mankind,  will  enter  at  last  upon  its  noble 
"prerogative  of  teaching  the  nations  how  to  live." 

Thus,  Sir,  speaking  for  Freedom  in  Kansas,  I  have 
spoken  for  Freedom  everywhere,  and  for  Civilization; 
and  as  the  less  is  contained  in  the  greater,  so  are  all 
arts,  all  sciences,  all  economies,  all  refinements,  all  char- 
ities, all  delights  of  life,  embodied  in  this  cause.  You 
may  reject  it,  but  it  will  be  only  for  to-day.  The  sa- 
cred animosity  of  Freedom  and  Slavery  can  end  only 
with  the  triumph  of  Freedom.  The  same  question  will 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY.         237 

be  carried  soon  before  that  high  tribunal,  supreme  over 
Senate  and  Court,  where  the  judges  are  counted  by 
millions,  and  the  judgment  rendered  will  be  the  solemn 
charge  of  an  awakened  people,  instructing  a  new  Presi- 
dent, in  the  name  of  Freedom,  to  see  that  Civilization 
receives  no  detriment. 


When  Mr.  Sumner  .resumed  his  seat,  Mr.  Chesnut,  of  South  Caro- 
lina, spoke  as  follows. 

"  Mr.  President,  after  the  extraordinary,  though  characteristic,  speech  just 
uttered  in  the  Senate,  it  is  proper  that  I  assign  the  reason  for  the  position 
•we  are  now  inclined  to  assume.  After  ranging  over  Europe,  crawling 
through  the  back  doors  to  whine  at  the  feet  of  British  aristocracy,  craving 
pity,  and  reaping  a  rich  harvest  of  contempt,  the  slanderer  of  States  and 
men  reappears  in  the  Senate.  We  had  hoped  to  be  relieved  from  the  out- 
pourings of  such  vulgar  malice.  We  had  hoped  that  one  who  had  felt,  though 
ignominionsly  he  failed  to  meet,  the  consequences  of  a  former  insolence 
would  have  become  wiser,  if  not  better,  by  experience.  In  this  I  am  disap- 
pointed, and  I  regret  it.  Mr.  President,  in  the  heroic  ages  of  the  world  men 
were  deified  for  the  possession  and  the  exercise  of  some  virtues,  —  wisdom, 
truth,  justice,  magnanimity,  courage.  In  Egypt,  also,  we  know  they  deified 
beasts  and  reptiles ;  but  even  that  bestial  people  worshipped  their  idols  on 
account  of  some  supposed  virtue.  It  has  been  left  for  this  day,  for  this 
country,  for  the  Abolitionists  of  Massachusetts,  to  deify  the  incarnation  of 
malice,  mendacity,  and  cowardice.  Sir,  we  do  not  intend  to  be  guilty  of  aid- 
ing in  the  apotheosis  of  pusillanimity  and  meanness.  We  do  not  intend 
to  contribute,  by  any  conduct  on  our  part,  to  increase  the  devotees  at  the 
shrine  of  this  new  idol.  We  know  what  is  expected  and  what  is  desired. 
We  are  not  inclined  again  to  send  forth  the  recipient  of  PUNISHMENT  howl- 
ing through  the  world,  yelping  fresh  criet  of  slander  and  malice.  These  are  the 
reasons,  which  I  feel  it  due  to  myself  and  others  to  give  to  the  Senate  and 
the  country,  why  we  have  quietly  listened  to  what  has  been  said,  and  why 
we  can  take  no  other  notice  of  the  matter." 

In  these  words  Mr.  Chesnut  refers  to  the  assault  upon  Mr.  Stunner, 
with  a  bludgeon,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  by  a  Representative  from 
South  Carolina,  since  dead,  aided  by  another  Representative  from  that 
same  State,  and  also  a  Representative  from  Virginia,  on  account  of  which 
Mr.  Sumner  had  been  compelled  to  leave  his  seat  vacant,  and  seek  the 
restoration  of  his  health  by  travel.  As  Mr.  Chesnut  spoke,  he  was 
surrounded  by  the  Slave-Masters  of  the  Senate,  who  seemed  to  approve 


238  THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY. 

what  he  said.  There  was  no  call  to  order  by  the  Chair,  which  was 
occupied  at  the  time  by  Mr.  Bigler,  of  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Sumner  ob- 
tained the  floor  with  difficulty,  while  a  motion  was  pending  for  the 
postponement  of  the  question,  and  said  :  — 

Mr.  President,  before  this  question  passes  away,  I 
think  I  ought  to  make  answer  to  the  Senator  from 
South  Carolina,  —  though  perhaps  there  is  no  occasion 
for  it.  ["  No  ! "  from  several  Senators.]  Only  one 
word.  I  exposed  to-day  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery. 
What  the  Senator  has  said  in  reply  I  may  well  print 
as  an  additional  illustration.  That  is  all. 

Mr.  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  said :  — 
"  I  hope  he  will  do  it" 


The  first  pamphlet  edition  of  this  speech  contained  a  note  which  is 
preserved  here. 

"  The  following  letter,  from  a  venerable  citizen,  an  ornament  of  our 
legislative  halls  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  now  the  oldest 
survivor  of  all  who  have  ever  been  members  of  Congress,  is  too  valu- 
able in  testimony  and  counsel  to  be  omitted  in  this  place. 

"  '  BOSTON,  June  5, 1860. 

" '  DEAR  SIR,  — I  have  read  a  few  abstracts  from  your  noble  speech,  but 
must  wait  for  it  in  a  pamphlet  form,  that  I  may  read  it  in  such  type  as  eyes 
in  the  eighty -ninth  year  of  their  age  will  permit.  But  I  have  read  enough 
to  approve,  and  rejoice  that  you  have  been  permitted  thus  truly,  fully,  and 
faithfully  to  expose  the  '  Barbarism '  of  Slavery  on  that  very  floor  on 
which  you  were  so  cruelly  and  brutally  stricken  down  by  the  spirit  of  that 
Barbarism. 

" '  I  only  hope  that  in  an  Appendix  you  will  preserve  the  vera  effigies  of 
that  insect  that  attempted  to  sting  yon.  Remember  that  the  value  of  amber 
is  increased  by  the  insect  it  preserves. 

" '  Yours,  very  truly, 

"'JOSIAH  QUINCY.'" 


APPENDIX. 


THE  speech  on  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery  was  followed  by  outburst? 
of  opinion  which  exhibit  the  state  of  the  public  mind  at  the  time. 
There  was  approval  and  opposition,  and  there  was  also  menace  of  vio- 
lence. As  this  was  promptly  encountered,  it  could  never  be  known  to 
what  extent  the  plot  had  proceeded. 

Mr.  Sumner  was  at  his  lodgings,  alone,  on  the  fourth  day  after  the 
speech,  when,  about  six  o'clock,  p.  M.,  he  received  a  visit  from  a  stran- 
ger, who  opened  conversation  by  saying  that  he  was  one  of  the  class 
recently  slandered,  being  a  Southern  man  and  a  slaveholder,  and  that 
he  had  called  for  an  explanation  of  the  speech,  and  to  hold  its  author 
responsible.  A  few  words  ensued,  in  which  the  visitor  became  still  more 
offensive,  when  Mr.  Sumner  ordered  him  out  of  the  room.  After  some 
delay,  he  left,  saying,  in  violent  tone,  that  he  was  one  of  four  who 
had  come  from  Virginia  for  the  express  purpose  of  holding  Mr.  Sumner 
responsible,  and  that  he  would  call  upon  him  again  with  his  friends. 
Mr.  Sumner  sent  at  once  to  his  colleague,  Mr.  Wilson,  who  quickly 
joined  him.  While  they  were  together,  a  person  came  to  the  door  who 
asked  particularly  to  see  Mr.  Sumner  alone,  and  when  told  that  he  was 
not  alone,  declined  to  enter.  About  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  three 
other  persons  came  to  the  door,  who  asked  to  see  Mr.  Sumner  alone, 
and  receiving  the  same  answer,  they  sent  word  by  the  domestic  who 

opened  the  door,  that  Mr. and  two  friends  had  called,  but,  not 

finding  him  alone,  they  would  call  again  in  the  morning,  for  a  private 

interview,  and  if  they  could  not  have  it,  they  would  cut  his  d d 

throat  before  the  next  night.  Such  a  message,  with  the  attendant  cir- 
cumstances, put  the  friends  of  Mr.  Sumner  on  their  guard,  and  it  was 
determined,  contrary  to  his  desire,  that  one  or  more  should  sleep  in 
the  house  that  night.  Accordingly  Hon.  Anson  Burlingame  and  Hon. 
John  Sherman,  both  Representatives,  slept  in  the  room  opening  into 
his  bedroom.  In  the  morning  other  circumstances  increased  the  sus- 
picion that  personal  injury  was  intended. 

It  was  the  desire  of  Mr.  Sumner  that  this  incident  should  be  kept 
out  of  the  newspapers  ;  but  it  became  known,  and  caused  no  small  ex- 


240         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

citement  at  Washington,  and  through  the  country.  It  was  the  subject 
of  telegrams  and  of  letters.  The  anxiety  in  Boston  was  shown  in  a  let- 
ter, under  date  of  June  9,  from  his  friend  Hon.  Edward  L.  Pierce, 
saying  :  — 

"  We  have  just  heard  of  the  threat  of  violence  made  to  you  last  evening. 
Dr.  Howe  and  others  meditate  leaving  for  Washington  forthwith.  I  wish  I 
could  be  there;  but  I  feel  assured  that  there  are  enough  to  protect  you,  if 
you  will  only  let  them.  Do  be  careful,  very  careful.  You  will  not  be  safe, 
until  you  have  arrived  in  the  Free  States  on  your  way  home." 

Messrs.  Thayer  and  Eldridge,  booksellers,  wrote  at  once  from  Bos- 
ton :  — 

"  If  you  need  assistance  in  defending  yourself  against  the  ruffians  of  the 
Slave  Power,  please  telegraph  us  at  once,  or  to  some  of  your  friends  here 
who  will  notify  us.  There  is  a  strong  feeling  here,  and  we  can  raise  a  small 
body  of  men,  who  will  join  with  your  Washington  friends,  or  will  alone  de- 
fend you." 

Hon.  Gershom  B.  Weston,  a  veteran,  wrote  from  Duxbury,  Massa- 
chusetts :  — 

"  I  am  ready  to  shoulder  my  musket  and  march  to  the  Capitol,  and  there 
sacrifice  my  life  in  defence  of  Free  Speech  and  the  Right." 

Hon.  M.  F.  Conway,  then  in  Washington,  and  afterwards  Represen- 
tative in  Congress  from  Kansas,  sent  in  to  Mr.  Sumner,  while  in  his 
seat,  this  warning  and  tender  of  service  :  — 

"  You  are  not  safe  to  be  alone  at  any  time.  I  will  be  glad  to  be  with  you 
all  the  time,  if  practicable.  I  ask  the  privilege  especially  of  being  one  of 
your  companions  at  night.  I  will  accompany  you  from  the  Senate  Cham- 
ber, when  you  leave  this  evening." 

In  reply  to  an  inquiry  from  home,  Hon.  Jamea  Buffinton,  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  wrote  :  — 

"  The  Massachusetts  delegation  in  Congress  will  stand  by  Mr.  Sumner  and 
his  late  speech.  There  will  be  no  backing  down  by  us,  and  I  am  in  hopes 
our  people  at  home  will  pursue  the  same  course." 

The  Mayor  of  Washington  invited  Mr.  Sumner  to  make  affidavit  of 
the  facts,  or  to  lodge  a  complaint,  which  the  latter  declined  to  do,  say- 
ing that  he  and  his  friends  had  no  inducement  from  the  past  to  rely 
upon  Washington  magistrates.  At  last  the  Mayor  brought  the  origi- 
nal offender,  being  a  well-known  Washington  office-holder  of  Virginia, 
to  Mr.  Sumner's  room,  when  he  apologized  for  his  conduct,  and  denied 
all  knowledge  of  the  visitors  Liter  in  the  evening  who  left  the  brutal 
message. 


APPENDIX.  241 

The  friends  of  Mr.  Simmer  did  not  feel  entirely  relieved.  Among 
these  was  his  private  secretary,  A.  B.  Johnson,  Esq.,  afterwards  chief 
clerk  of  the  Lighthouse  Board,  who,  untiring  in  friendship  and  fidel- 
ity, without  consulting  him,  arranged  protection  for  the  night,  and  a 
body-guard  between  his  lodgings  and  the  Senate.  The  latter  service 
was  generously  assumed  by  citizens  of  Kansas,  who,  under  the  cap- 
taincy of  Augustus  Wattles,  insisted  upon  testifying  in  this  way  their 
sense  of  his  efforts  for  them.  Apprised  of  Mr.  Simmer's  habit  of 
walking  to  and  from  the  Capitol,  they  watched  his  door,  and,  as  he 
came  out,  put  themselves  at  covering  distance  behind,  with  revolvers 
in  hand,  and  then,  unknown  to  him,  followed  to  the  door  of  the 
Senate.  In  the  same  way  they  followed  him  home.  This  body- 
guard, especially  in  connection  with  the  previous  menace,  illustrates 
the  era  of  Slavery. 

The  personal  incident  just  described  was  lost  in  the  larger  discussion 
caused  by  the  speech  itself,  in  the  press  and  in  correspondence. 


THE  PRESS. 

THE  appearance  of  the  Senate  at  the  delivery  of  the  speech  was 
described  by  the  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald  in  his  letter 
of  the  same  date. 

"  During  the  delivery  of  this  exasperating  bill  of  charges,  specifications, 
and  denunciation  of  that  'sum  of  all  villanies,'  Slavery,  a  profound  and 
most  ominous  silence  prevailed  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  and  in  the  gal- 
leries. We  have  no  recollection  in  our  experience  here,  running  through  a 
period  of  twenty  years,  of  anything  like  this  ominous  silence  during  the 
delivery  of  a  speech  for  Buncombe,  on  Slavery,  by  a  Northern  fanatic  or  a 
Southern  fire-eater.  We  say  ominous  silence,  because  we  can  only  recog- 
nize it  as  something  fearfully  ominous.  —  ominous  of  mischief,  —  ominous 
of  the  revival  in  this  capital  and  throughout  the  country  of  the  Slavery 
agitation,  with  a  tenfold  bitterness  compared  with  any  previous  stirring 
up  of  the  fountains  of  bitter  waters." 

The  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Tribune  of  the  same  date 
wrote  :  — 

"  Mr.  Sumner's  speech  attracted  a  large  audience  to  the  Senate  galleries, 
which  continued  well  filled  during  the  four  hours  of  his  scourging  review  of 
Slavery  in  all  its  relations,  political,  social,  moral,  and  economical.  There 
appeared  to  be  a  studied  effort  at  indifference  on  the  Democratic  side ;  for 
only  a  dozen  Senators  were  in  their  seats  during  the  first  hour  or  two. 
Afterward  they  gradually  appeared,  and  leading  Southern  members  from 
VOL.  vi.  — 16 


242          THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

the  House  contributed  to  the  general  interest  by  their  presence  and  atten- 
tion. 

"  As  a  whole,  this  speech  was  regarded  as  being  more  offensive  by  the 
South  than  the  one  which  created  such  a  sensation  before,  and  there  is 
reason  to  believe,  that,  but  for  prudential  considerations,  it  might  have  been 
attended  with  similar  results.  It  was  found  quite  difficult  to  restrain  some 
decided  exhibition  of  resentment  in  certain  quarters.  The  only  expression 
of  indignation  which  found  vent  was  in  Mr.  Chesnut's  brief  and  angry 
reply,  from  which  the  general  temper  of  the  South  may  be  inferred,  as  he  is 
regarded  among  the  most  discreet  and  considerate  in  his  tone  and  bearing." 

The  correspondent  of  the  Chicago  Press  and  Tribune,  under  date  of 
June  5,  wrote  :  — 

"  The  speech  of  Charles  Snmner  yesterday  was  probably  the  most  mas- 
terly and  exhaustive  argument  against  human  bondage  that  has  ever  been 
made  in  this  or  any  other  country,  since  man  first  commenced  to  oppress 
hfs  fellow- man.  He  took  the  floor  at  ten  minutes  past  twelve,  and  spoke 
until  a  little  after  four.  The  tone  of  the  speech  was  not  vindictive,  and  yet 
there  was  a  terrible  severity  running  through  it  that  literally  awed  the 
Southern  side.  There  will,  of  course,  be  various  opinions  as  to  Vi\Q  policy  of 
this  awful  arraignment  of  the  Slave  Power,  yet  there  can  be  but  one  opinion 
as  to  its  extraordinary  logical  completeness,  and,  however  it  may  affect 
public  opinion  to-day,  it  is  an  effort  that  will  live  in  history  long  after  the 
ephemeral  contest  of  this  age  shall  have  passed  away.  Indeed,  while  listen- 
ing to  it,  I  could  not  but  feel  —  and  the  same  feeling  was,  I  know,  experi- 
enced by  others  —  that  the  eloquent  and  brave  orator  was  speaking  rather 
to  future  generations,  and  to  the  impartial  audience  of  the  whole  civilized 
world,  than  to  the  men  of  to-day,  with  a  view  of  effecting  any  result  upon 
elements  with  which  he  was  immediately  surrounded." 

The  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post  wrote,  under  date 
of  June  5  :  — 

"  Mr.  Sumner's  speech  was  a  tremendous  attack  upon  Slavery,  and  was 
utterly  devoid  of  personalities.  He  attacked  the  institution,  and  not  individ- 
uals, but  his  language  was  very  severe.  There  was  no  let-up  in  the  severity 
from  beginning  to  end.  Facts  were  quoted,  and  they  were  allowed  to  bear 
against  States  as  well  as  individuals;  but  Mr.  Sumner  made  no  comment 
upon  that  class  of  facts.  While  he  was  exhibiting  the  barbarous  character 
of  Slave-Masters,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  restlessness  on  the  slaveholding 
side  of  the  Senate  Hall,  as  if  it  required  great  self-control  to  keep  silence." 

The  correspondent  of  the  Boston  Traveller  wrote,  at  length  on  the 
delivery,  and  the  impression  produced.  Here  is  an  extract :  — 

"  So  far  as  personal  violence  was  to  be  apprehended,  we  think  he  was  as 
unconcerned  as  a  man  could  be.  Anxiety  on  that  account  might  have  been 


APPENDIX.  243 

felt  by  his  friends,  bnt  not  by  him.  He  seemed  to  be  all  forgetful  of  himself, 
and  to  have  his  mind  dwelling  on  the  cause  to  which  he  was  devoted,  the 
race  for  which  he  was  to  plead,  and  on  the  responsibility  under  which  he 
stood  to  his  country  and  to  generations  to  come.  .... 

"  There  was  something  sublime  in  the  ardor  and  boldness  and  majesty 
with  which  he  spoke.  At  times  we  could  not  but  forget  the  speech,  and 
think  only  of  the  speaker,  —  the  honorable  emulation  of  his  youth,  the 
illustrious  services  of  his  manhood,  the  purity  of  his  aims,  the  sufferings 
he  had  endured,  and  the  merciful  Providence  which  had  preserved  him. 
Nothing  could  surpass  the  effect  of  the  concluding  paragraphs,  in  which  he 
predicted  a  Republican  triumph  in  November  next. 

"  The  four  hours  during  which  we  listened  to  him  can  never  pass  from 
our  memory.  It  would  be  superfluous  here  even  to  enumerate  the  points 
of  the  speech,  or  to  suggest  its  most  powerful  passages,  for  it  will  be  uni- 
versally read.  An  arraignment  of  Slavery  so  exhaustive  has  never  before 
been  made  in  our  history,  and  it  will  supersede  the  necessity  of  another. 
Hereafter,  when  one  desires  to  prove  Slavery  irrational  and  unconstitutional, 
he  will  go  to  that  speech  as  to  an  arsenal.  During  a  part  of  its  delivery,  the 
Southern  Senators,  as  Toombs  and  Wigfall,  were  very  uneasy,  walking 
about  the  Senate,  and  conversing  aloud.  Keitt  and  other  members  of  the 
House  from  South  Carolina  were  also  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  and  were 
rather  unquiet.  Near  Mr.  Sumner,  throughout  his  speech,  sat  his  colleague, 
Mr.  Wilson,  Mr.  Burlingame,  and  Owen  Lovejoy;  and  had  any  Southern 
member  attempted  a  repetition  of  the  Brooks  assault,  he  would  have  found 
in  either  of  them  a  foeman  worthy  of  his  steel. 

"  The  Republican  Senators  gave  excellent  attention  to  the  speech.  Some 
of  them;  who  are  understood  to  hold  very  moderate  and  conservative  opin- 
ions, expressed  a  strong  admiration  of  the  speech.  One  of  them  called  it 
1  a  mighty  effort ' ;  another  said  it  was  '  the  greatest  speech  of  the  age ' ; 
another  said  '  it  was  an  unanswerable  refutation  of  the  doctrines  which 
Senators  from  Slave  States  had  repeatedly  advanced  and  debated  in  favor 
of  the  justice  and  policy  of  Slavery,  and  It  was  a  good  work.'  .... 

"  Mr.  Sumner  was  called  upon  last  evening  by  some  of  the  leading  citi- 
zens of  Kansas,  some  of  whom  are  to  hold  official  positions  upon  its  admis- 
sion, who  thanked  him  for  his  speech,  and  assured  him  that  their  cause 
would  rather  be  advanced  than  injured  by  it.  Their  course  puts  to  shame 
the  timidity  of  some  persons  who  were  opposed  to  its  delivery,  fearing  lest 
it  would  defeat  the  admission  of  Kansas,  — just  as  if  the  Proslavery  Democ- 
racy, in  their  treatment  of  that  question,  are  to  be  governed  by  any  con- 
sideration except  their  own  party  Interests  and  the  demands  of  Slavery.  It 
is  time  that  the  Republican  party  pursued  its  own  course,  without  asking 
the  counsel  or  permission  of  its  adversaries." 

An  occasional  correspondent  of  the  Chatauque  Democrat,  New  York, 
gave  a  familiar  sketch  of  the  scene. 

"  Mr.  Breckinridge  remained  all  the  time,  and  sat  with  an  open  book  in 


244         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

his  hands,  pretending  to  read;  but  his  eyes  wandered  from  the  page,  and, 
with  a  frown  upon  his  brow,  he  finally  gazed  at  the  speaker  till  he  closed. 
Jeff  Davis  pretended  to  be  reading  the  Globe,  but  it  was  plain  to  be  seen  by 
the  heading  of  the  paper  that  it  was  upside  down.  Wigfall  seemed  in 
torment.  He  listened  respectfully  awhile,  and  then  glided  silently  around 
from  one  Senator  to  another,  and  conferred  in  whispers.  He  seemed  to  be 
hatching  mischief;  but  the  grave  shake  of  the  head  of  the  older  Senators 
doubtless  kept  this  uneasy,  restless  desperado  quiet.  Hunter  sat  like  a 
rock,  immovable,  and  listened  respectfully  to  the  whole.  Not  a  muscle 
moved  upon  his  placid  face  to  denote  what  was  going  on  in  his  mind. 
Toombs  heard  the  most  of  it  quietly,  and  with  as  much  of  a  don't-care 
look  as  his  evil  passions  would  permit.  Near  the  close,  '  Sheep's-Gray ' 
Mason  came  in  and  took  his  seat,  and  commenced  writing  a  letter.  He 
evidently  intended  to  show  the  galleries  that  Sumner  was  too  small  for  him 
to  notice.  But  he  soon  found  a  seat  in  a  distant  part  of  the  Hall,  and  an 
easy  position,  where  he  sat  gloomily  scowling  upon  the  orator  till  he  sat 
down.  When  the  speech  was  about  half  through,  Keitt,  the  accomplice  of 
Brooks  in  his  attempted  assassination  of  Mr.  Sumner,  came  in  and  took  a 
seat  near  Senator  Hammond.  For  a  while  he  sat  gazing  about  the  galleries, 
evidently  to  notice  the  dramatic  effect  of  his  presence  upon  the  audience 
there.  But  few  seemed  to  notice  him.  By  degrees  he  began  to  pay  atten- 
tion to  the  speech Curry,  of  Alabama,  and  Lamar,  of  Mississippi, 

members  of  the  other  House,  though  Southerners  of  the  straitest  sect,  could 
not  conceal  their  delight  at  the  oratory  and  classic  and  scholarly  feast  before 
them.  They  are  scholars  and  orators  themselves,  and  could  appreciate  an 
intellectual  treat,  though  the  sentiments  were  ever  so  obnoxious. 

"  On  the  Republican  side  breathless  attention  prevailed.  Those  who 
immediately  surrounded  the  Senator  were  Mr.  Wilson,  Senator  Bingham, 
John  Hickman,  Preston  King,  and  Solomon  Foot.  Mr.  Seward  sat  in  his 
usual  seat,  and  scarcely  moved  during  the  delivery  of  the  great  speech." 

As  the  sppech  was  read,  the  conflict  of  opinion  began  to  show  itself. 
Democrats  were  all  against  it ;  Republicans  were  divided. 

The  New  York  Tribune,  in  an  editorial  notice,  said  :  — 

"  We  have  said  that  Mr.  Sumner's  was  donbtiess  a  strong  and  forcible 
speech;  and  yet  we  wish  he  had  made  it  on  some  other  bill  than  that 
providing  for  the  admission  of  Kansas." 

A  Boston  paper,  in  a  letter  from  Washington,  contained  the  following 
reply  to  the  New  York  Tribune. 

"  And  speaking  of  Kansas,  I  may  here  say  that  a  number,  of  leading 
Kansas  men  have  called  on  Mr.  Sumner  to  assure  him  that  the  Tribune's 
idea,  that  his  speech  injured  the  prospect  of  the  admission  of  their  State, 
never  found  lodgement  in  their  minds.  They  thank  him  for  it,  and  assure 
him,  that,  of  their  own  knowledge,  the  fate  of  the  bill  was  decided  before  he 
took  the  floor." 


APPENDIX.  245 

The  New  York  Evening  Post,  after  observing  that  the  speech  was 
"  elaborate,  learned,  eloquent,  and  exhaustive  of  every  topic  on  which 
it  touched,"  said  :  — 

"  Though  nominally  relating  to  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  Kansas,  his 
remarks  took  a  wider  range,  and  were  a  general  arraignment  of  the  system 
of  Slavery,  as  it  exists  in  the  Southern  States  of  this  Union,  in  all  its  moral, 
political,  and  social  aspects 

"  No  one,  we  presume,  can  fail  to  admire  the  ability  and  cogency  of  this 
address ;  but  whether  the  peculiar  line  of  argument  was  called  for  at  this 
time,  or  whether  it  will  aid  in  the  passage  of  the  Kansas  Admission  Bill, 
may  admit  of  doubt." 

The  New  York  Times  was  as  little  sympathetic  as  the  Tribune. 

"  From  beginning  to  end  it  was  a  vehement  denunciation  of  Slavery.  The 
labor  of  four  leisure  years  seems  to  have  been  devoted  by  Mr.  Sumner  to 
collecting  every  instance  of  cruelty,  violence,  passion,  coarseness,  and  vulgar- 
ity recorded  as  having  happened  within  the  Slave  States,  or  as  having  been 
committed  by  a  slaveholder. ....  But,  aside  from  its  utter  irrelevancy  to 
the  Kansas  Question,  what  general  good  can  be  hoped  for  from  such  enven- 
omed attacks  upon  the  Slave  States  ?  Do  they  tend  in  any  way  to  pro- 
mote the  public  welfare  ?  Do  they  aid  in  the  least  the  solution  of  what 
every  sensible  man  acknowledges  to  be  the  most  delicate  and  difficult  prob- 
lem of  this  age?  " 

Then,  in  another  number,  the  Times  said  :  — 

"  Fortunately,  it  has  commanded  less  attention  than  was  anticipated,  and 
has  encountered  silence  in  some  quarters,  and  positive  disapproval  in  others, 
usually  disposed  to  judge  speeches  of  this  class  with  the  utmost  forbear- 
ance. Even  the  Tribune,  while  it  has  published  the  speech  in  its  editions 
intended  mainly  for  the  country,  has  not  deemed  it  judicious  or  wise  to  give 
it  circulation  among  its  city  readers ;  and  some  of  the  most  decided  Repub- 
lican papers  in  the  country  have  protested  against  the  injustice  of  holding 
the  party  responsible  for  its  sentiments." 

The  New  York  Herald  took  advantage  of  the  speech  to  hold  up  the 
consequences  of  "  Black  Republicanism."  On  the  day  after  the  deliv- 
ery, it  wrote  thus  :  — 

"  Important  from  Washington. —  The  Great  Republican  Manifesto.  — Open- 
ing of  the  Campaign  in  Earnest. —  Charlet  Sumner's  Inflammatory  Ha- 
rangue in  the  Senate.  —  Appeal  to  the  North  against  the  South.  —  The  Five- 
fold Wrong  of  Human  Slavery.—  Its  Total  Abolition  in  the  United  States  the 
Sacred  Duty  of  the  Republican  Party.  —  The  Helper  and  Spooner  Programmes 
fully  and  emphatically  indorsed.  —  Mr.  Sumner  the  Leading  Light  of  the  Black 
Republicans. 

"  We  give  elsewhere,  to-day,  in  full,  the  speech  of  Senator  Snmner,  of 


246         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Massachusetts,  on  the  great  question  that  is  presented  to  the  whole  country 
for  judgment  in  November  next. 

"  Not  only  the  argument  it  contains,  but  the  place  where  it  was  uttered, 
and  the  position  and  character  of  the  man  who  uttered  it,  should  be  taken 
into  consideration,  in  measuring  its  bearing  upon,  and  relation  to,  what  may 
truthfully  be  called  the  greatest  question  of  the  present  age 

"  In  that  Senate  which  has  so  often  resounded  with  the  sublimest  utter- 
ances of  human  lips  and  human  hopes,  Mr.  Sumner  stands  forth  the  personi- 
fication of  a  great  and  a  free  State,  and  the  representative  man  of  a  great 
and  powerful  political  party  in  fifteen  of  the  sovereign  States  of  this  Union. 
He  possesses  the  philosophical  acumen  of  Mr.  Seward,  without  his  cautious 
reserve  as  a  politician,  —  the  honesty  of  Lincoln,  without  the  craft  of  a  candi- 
date in  nomination,  —  and  literary  culture,  political  zeal,  and  the  gift  of  elo- 
quence, which  place  him  in  the  very  foremost  rank  as  a  leader  and  an  ex- 
ponent of  the  Black  Republican  ideas.  All  of  these  circumstances  combine 
to  give  a  more  deep  solemnity  to  his  words,  in  this  grave  moment  of  their 
utterance 

•'  Every  man  admits  that  our  fraternal  relations  with  the  Southern  States 
are  productive  of  unmixed  benefit  to  us  and  to  ours;  and  yet  Lincoln  and 
Seward  incite  the  North  to  an  'irrepressible  conflict'  with  the  South; 
and  now  comes  another  mighty  leader  among  the  Black  Republicans,  and 
proclaims  it  to  be  a  '  sacred  animosity.' 

"  This  is  the  burden  of  Mr.  Sumner's  eloquence,  and  we  need  not  enter 
upon  its  details.  But  there  is  one  characteristic  of  this  speech  which  is  in 
perfect  accordance  with  the  policy  of  the  Black  Republican  party  in  the 
present  campaign.  The  bloody  and  terrible  results  which  must  ensue,  if 
that  party  succeeds  in  getting  possession  of  the  Federal  Government,  are  kept 
carefully  out  of  view.  John  Brown's  practice  is  taught,  but  there  is  no 
word  of  John  Brown.  The  social  condition  of  fifteen  populous,  rich,  and 
powerful  States  is  to  be  revolutionized;  but  not  a  hint  of  the  possibility  of 
resistance  on  their  part,  or  of  the  reactive  effect  of  such  resistance  upon  the 
aggressive  North,  is  dropped." 

On  the  next  day  the  Herald  said  :  — 

"  Summer's  Truthful  Exposition  of  the  Ainu  of  Black  Republicanism.  —  Its 
Teachings  in  the  coming  Conventions. 

"The  perfect  platform  of  the  Black  Republican  party  has  been  laid  down 
by  Senator  Sumner  in  his  recent  speech  in  the  Senate,  and  it  is  now  before 
the  country  for  approval  or  rejection." 

In  the  same  spirit,  the  Richmond  Despatch  recognized  the  speech  as 
an  authentic  manifestation  of  Northern  sentiment. 

"  The  fact  Is,  Sumner  has  spoken  but  too  truly.  His  is  the  spirit  in  which 
the  South  is  regarded  by  the  party  to  which  he  belongs.  He  is  its  mouth- 
piece. His  is  the  tongue  to  the  Abolition  lyre,  giving  it  utterance,  bringing 
out  its  genuine  tones.  Greeley  and  Raymond  are  afraid,  just  at  this  mo- 


APPENDIX.  247 

ment,  to  speak  the  whole  truth.  They  dare  not  let  the  conservative  portion 
of  the  people  at  the  North  know  that  it  is  the  design  of  the  party  with  which 
they  are  associated  to  make  uncompromising  war  upon  the  South,  —  to  de- 
stroy its  institutions  at  any  cost  of  blood,  to  hunt  down  its  people  even  to 
the  extremity  of  death,  if  it  be  necessary.  The  South  ought  to  fesl  obliged 
to  Sumner  for  betraying  the  designs  of  the  party.  His  speech  is  a  god- 
send." 

The  Indianapolis  Daily  Journal  wrote  :  — 

"  We  have  read  as  much  of  Senator  Sumner's  speech  on  the  Barbarism  of 
Slavery  as  we  have  had  time  to  read,  and  must  bear  witness  that  it  is  one 
of  the  ablest,  most  exasperating,  and  most  useless  speeches  we  ever  read. 
It  shows  all  through  the  genius,  the  learning,  and  the  hate  of  its  gifted  and 
abrsed  author.  It  is  manifestly  the  revenge  of  the  orator  on  the  institution 
that  through  Brooks's  arm  struck  him  down  so  brutally.  It  is  intended 
less  to  check  the  growth  of  Slavery  than  to  gall  Slaveholders.  It  is  a  scald- 
ing, excoriating  invective,  almost  without  parallel  in  the  annals  of  oratory. 
....  As  a  vengeance  for  the  orator's  own  wrongs,  it  is  ample  and  admirable. 
As  an  implement  to  aid  the  great  work  of  repressing  Slavery  extension,  it  is 
simply  worthless,  or  worse.  Slavery  is  all  that  he  charges.  But  slavehold- 
ers are  not  as  barbarous  as  their  system." 

The  Boston  Daily  Advertiser  begins  by  saving  of  the  speech,  that  "  its 
denunciation,  although  strong,  is  not  hot ;  its  profuse  learning  and 
reference  to  history  show  elaboration  and  study  ;  and  the  whole  mass 
of  reasoning,  of  rhetoric,  and  of  authority  is  brought  together  and 
wielded  with  such  skill  and  power  as  the  greatest  masters  of  oratory 
might  well  envy  "  ;  and  then  the  journal  proceeds  :  — 

"  We  confess  that  in  our  judgment  the  argument  upon  Slavery  itself  need 
be  neither  long  nor  elaborate.  The  Golden  Rule  has  exhausted  the  sub- 
ject, both  upon  principle  and  authority.  The  testimony  of  one  enlightened 
slaveholder  like  Jefferson,  who  '  trembled  for  his  country,  when  he  remem- 
bered that  God  was  just,'  tells  us  as  much  of  the  actual  workings  of  the  in- 
stitution as  all  the  hideous  narratives  which  its  opponents  have  culled  in 
such  appalling  profusion  from  its  current  history.  The  subject  is  one  which 
is  governed  by  principles  which  are  essentially  and  peculiarly  elementary, 
and  we  confess  that  we  see  not  how  any  powers  of  eloquence  or  reasoning 
could  turn  him  who  is  not  convinced  by  the  simple  statement  of  these  few 
original  principles 

"  If  the  majority  of  the  people  are  already  right  upon  the  main  subject,  — 
and  we  should  otherwise  despair  of  the  Republic,  —  we  must  conclude  that 
our  efibrtg  will  be  much  more  efficacious,  if  directed  at  those  constitutional 
heresies  by  means  of  which  this  giant  evil  is  at  present  carrying  on  its 
attack.  It  is  in  this  way,  chiefly,  that,  within  those  limits  of  duty  which 
the  Republican  party  is  ever  careful  to  affirm  and  observe,  we  can  hope  to 
act  efficiently  upon  this  great  question." 


248         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

The  tone  of  the  Democratic  papers  appears  in  the  Albany  Atlas  and 
Argus. 

"  No  one  can  rise  from  a  perusal  of  this  speech  without  a  contempt  for 
the  author,  and  a  conviction  of  his  unfitness  for  the  place." 

Also  in  the  Boston  Post. 

"  Charles  Summer's  recent  speech  is  a  curiosity  that  has  no  parallel,  at 
least  in  our  Senatorial  record.  Pedantry,  egotism,  fortuitous  hypothesis, 
malice,  rhapsody,  and  verbosity  stripe  and  emblazon  it  with  disgusting 
conspicuonsness." 

Other  papers  were  grateful  and  enthusiastic,  generally  in  proportion 
to  their  Antislavery  character. 

The  Boston  Traveller  said  :  — 

"  No  nobler  specimen  of  American  eloquence  can  be  found  than  this 
logical,  bold,  spirited,  clear,  and  learned  exposition  of  the  '  Barbarism  of 
Slavery.'  In  it  we  have  the  views  of  the  chivalrous  antagonist  of  Wrong, 
expressed  in  the  pointed  and  elegant  language  of  the  accomplished  scholar, 
and  guided  by  the  intellect  of  the  sagacious  and  benevolent  statesman.  We 
are  the  more  pleased  with  the  plain  speaking  of  Mr.  Sumner,  because  there 
has  apparently  been  a  falling  off  in  the  language  of  some  leading  Repub- 
licans since  the  beginning  of  the  Presidential  contest,  as  if  they  were  fear- 
ful of  offending  the  Oligarchy.  Mr.  Sumner,  who  has  no  idea  of  sacrificing 
the  Right  to  the  Expedient,  has  given  utterance  to  vital  truths  in  language 
full  of  vital  energy,  — '  Thoughts  that  breathe,  and  words  that  burn.' " 

The  Boston  Transcript  said  :  — 

"  Many  persons,  who  read  this  speech  without  having  previously  read  a 
number  of  speeches  made  on  the  other  side,  may  be  likely  to  consider  it  too 
abstract  in  its  character.  But,  as  many  Southern  Senators,  who  assume  to 
be  the  representative  men  of  their  section,  have  gravely  lectured  the  Senate 
at  great  length  in  defence  of  the  principles  and  practice  of  Slavery,  have 
taken  the  bold  ground  that  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  commands  of  God 
and  the  teachings  of  experience,  have  attempted  to  show  that  it  elevates  the 
white  man  and  blesses  the  black,  have  even  gone  so  far  as  to  assert  that 
labor,  whether  white  or  black,  is  happier  when  owned  than  when  hired,  and 
on  the  strength  of  these  assumptions  have  eagerly  argued  for  the  exten- 
sion of  such  a  beneficent  institution  into  territory  now  free,  it  is  certainly 
proper  that  some  man  from  the  Northern  States  should  make  an  attempt  to 
save  religion,  conscience,  reason,  common  sense,  common  sensibility,  from 
being  pressed  into  the  service  of  the  wickedest  and  most  nonsensical  para- 
doxes that  ever  entered  the  brain  or  came  out  of  the  mouth  of  educated 
men." 


APPENDIX.  249 

The  Boston  Atlas  and  Bee  said  :  — 

"  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  is  the  boldest,  most  thorough,  and  most 
•uncompromising  speech  that  Mr.  Sumner  has  ever  delivered ;  and  it  is  easy 
to  see  that  it  must  prove  the  most  offensive  to  the  slaveholders  of  any  of 
his  speeches.  It  is  a  complete  hand-book  of  their  offences,  and  will  excite 
in  them  great  and  perhaps  irrepressible  rage 

"  In  vigor  of  thought  and  style,  this  speech  will  rank  among  the  greatest, 
if  not  at  the  head,  of  Mr.  Sumner's  productions.  It  is  straightforward,  di- 
rect, logical,  proceeding  directly  to  its  mark  and  by  the  shortest  line,  strik- 
ing the  swiftest  aad  hardest  blows,  and  never  for  a  moment  leaving  the 
reader  in  doubt  as  to  its  meaning,  while  it  is  enlivened  by  even  more  than 
the  orator's  usual  wealth  of  classical  and  historical  lore.  It  is  in  every 
respect  a  remarkable  speech,  and  will  arrest  the  attention  of  the  whole 
country." 

The  Boston  Journal  said  :  — 

"  We  trust  that  the  length  of  Mr.  Sumner's  speech  will  deter  none  from 
its  perusal.  It  is  what  it  professes  to  be,  an  examination  of  the  institution 
of  Slavery  itself,  —  and  we  venture  to  say  a  more  acute,  comprehensive,  ex- 
haustive, and  powerful  exposition  of  the  whole  subject  never  was  made. 
Whoever  wants  to  understand  what  American  Slavery  is  must  read  this 
speech ;  whoever  wants  to  make  headway  against  the  ripening  public 
feeling  by  defending  Slavery  must  first  try  to  answer  the  arguments  of 
this  speech.  If  he  does  not,  he  will  be  in  danger  of  imitating  the  folly  of 
Senator  Ghesnut,  and,  through  an  exhibition  of  passion  and  scurrility,  of 

becoming  a  living  illustration  of  its  truths The  nation  has  certainly 

been  drifting  into  a  too  general  acquiescence  in  the  doctrine,  upheld  openly 
or  insidiously  by  both  factions  of  the  Democratic  party,  that  slaves  are 
property,  precisely  like  any  other  property  known  to  the  Common  Law. 
Any  utterance  like  this  of  Mr.  Sumner's,  which  shall  call  the  American 
people  from  this  disgraceful  and  dangerous  conclusion,  may  well  be  gen- 
erously criticised  in  other  respects." 

The  New  Bedford  Mercury  had  the  following,  in  a  letter  from  Bos- 
ton. 

"  The  chief  event  of  interest,  certainly  to  Bostonians,  lately,  is  the  aston- 
ishing speech  delivered  by  Charles  Sumner,  in  his  place  in  the  Senate,  in 
which  he  takes  up  the  Slavery  Question  precisely  where  he  left  it  off,  when 
stricken  down  by  the  cane  of  the  deceased  bully  Brooks.  Offensive  as  that 
speech  proved  to  the  Slave-Masters,  this  one  is  ten  times  worse.  This 
speech,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Congressional  speeches,  sets  forth, 
without  the  slightest  veil  or  mincing  of  the  matter,  the  deformities,  obliqui- 
ties, and  immoralities  of  the  Slavery  system." 

The  Albany  Evening  Journal  said  :  — 

"  On  the  22d  of  May,  four  years  ago,  we  were  startled  with  the  news  that 


250         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Charles  Suraner  had  been  struck  down  in  the  Senate  Chamber  and  nearly 
killed.  Yesterday,  for  the  first  time  since  that  event,  his  eloquence  again 
enchained  the  attention  of  the  Senate.  The  speech  which  provoked  the 
assault  in  1856  has  been  more  than  matched  in  the  one  just  delivered.  The 
former  speech  was  read  by  millions,  and  the  last  is  undoubtedly  destined  to 
receive  a  still  wider  attention.  The  glowing  eloquence  and  surpassing  eru- 
dition of  Mr.  Sumner  give  to  all  his  speeches  an  attraction  difficult  to 
resist,  even  by  those  who  dislike  the  doctrines  he  proclaims.  His  last 
speech  is  characterized  not  only  by  his  usual  brilliancy  of  style,  but  con- 
tains a  striking  array  of  facts  and  statistics  which  must  have  cost  much 
patient  toil  in  collecting." 

The  Hartford  Evening  Press  said  :  — 

"  It  is  said  in  certain  quarters  that  it  would  have  been  more  politic  to 
have  left  the  speech  unspoken.  It  is  even  urged  by  a  leading  journal  that 
the  admission  of  Kansas  is  endangered  by  it.  The  fact  is,  that  the  journal 
knows  —  none  know  better  —  that  the  Kansas  Bill  stands  just  as  good  a 
chance  at  the  hands  of  Southern  Senators  to-day  as  if  Charles  Sumner  had 
bent  low  and  with  bated  breath  begged  the  admission  of  that  Territory  as  a 

favor,  instead  of  demanding  it  as  a  right The  speech  is  demanded  by 

the  progress  of  the  assumptions  of  Slavery.  It  boldly  sets  itself  up  as  divine 
in  origin,  Christian  in  practice,  the  best  form  of  civilized  society,  and  chal- 
lenges our  scrutiny  and  approbation.  This,  taken  in  connection  with  its  ex- 
traordinary interpretation  of  the  Constitution  as  a  charter  of  Slavery,  and  not 
of  Freedom,  as  we  have  all  along  supposed  it  to  be,  forces  the  discussion  upon 
us.  Let  us  thank  Heaven  that  we  have  men  bold  enough  to  take  up  the 
gauntlet.  Charles  Sumner  deserves  well  of  the  country  and  well  of  the  age, 
for  his  calm  and  masterly  exposition  of  the  true  character  of  that  system 
we  are  urged  to  accept  and  extend,  as  divine  in  appointment,  and  adapted 
to  the  wants  of  our  time." 

The  New  Yorker  Abendzeitung,  a  German  paper  at  New  York,  pub- 
lished an  elaborate  leader,  translated  by  the  Evening  Post,  of  which 
this  is  an  extract  :  —  \ 

"  The  oration  made  by  Mr.  Sumner  is  not  a  mere  speech  in  the  common 
meaning  of  the  term,  but  rather  a  thoroughly  digested  treatise,  carefully 
prepared,  on  the  basis  of  a  great  number  of  facts  and  quotations.  It  unites 
the  most  thorough-going  philosophical  research,  regardless  of  the  conflict  of 
its  results  with  the  nearest  practical  aims,  to  that  variegated  poetical  color- 
ing, which,  appealing  to  the  power  of  imagination,  is  an  indispensable  ele- 
ment of  an  efficient  speech.  Even  to  the  best  speeches  of  Senator  Seward 
Sumner's  speech  stands  in  proportion  as  an  oil  painting  of  richest  coloring 
and  most  dramatic  grouping  of  figures  to  a  mere  black  crayon  etching.  If 
Mr.  Sumner's  speech  had  been  uttered  before  the  meeting  of  the  Chicago 
Convention,  he  would  undoubtedly  •have  occupied  a  prominent  rank  among 
the  candidates  of  the  radical  portion  of  the  Republican  party." 


APPENDIX.  251 

The  Sunday  Transcript,  of  Philadelphia,  said  :  — 

"  The  greatest  speech  of  the  season  is  certainly  Charles  Sumner's  mag- 
nificent philippic  against  '  The  Great  Barbarism.'  The  learning  and  re- 
search, the  array  of  facts,  the  apt  and  eloquent  quotations,  the  striking 
illustrations,  and  the  vivid  imagery  of  the  oration  are  its  least  merits.  The 
style  and  diction  are  as  clear  as  crystal,  as  pure  as  water,  and  sonorously 
musical.  The  entire  tone  of  the  speech  is  dignified  and  lofty 

"  Indeed,  we  admire  his  courage,  his  unequalled  moral  pluck.  In  this  day 
of  compromise  and  timidity,  of  bated  breath  and  base  concession,  when  it  is 
the  loathsome  fashion  to  say  that  the  Slavery  Question  should  be  discussed 
only  as  a  matter  of  profit  and  loss,  it  is  refreshing  to  hear  a  Senator  speak  in 
the  spirit  of  Jefferson  and  the  Fathers.  Besides,  does  not  the  South  chal- 
lenge us  to  discuss  the  abstract  question?  Do  not  Benjamin,  Toombs, 
Stephens,  Curry,  Keitt,  Lamar,  Hunter,  Slidell,  Brown,  Hammond,  Ches- 
nnt,  Mason,  Pryor,  Clingman,  Fitzhugh,  and  all  the  Southern  politicians, 
discuss  the  question  of  Slavery  in  the  abstract?  Do  they  not  deliver  long 
arguments  to  prove  that  Slavery  is  right,  just,  benign,  civilizing,  and  neces- 
sary, —  that  it  is  the  proper  condition  of  the  negro  and  the  working-man  ? 
And  is  any  free  Northern  man  so  poor  a  poltroon  as  to  say  that  these  men 
shall  not  be  replied  to  t  What !  shah1  all  the  South  be  privileged  to  praise 
and  applaud  Human  Slavery,  and  not  even  Charles  Stunner  be  allowed  to 
describe  it  as  it  really  itf" 

The  Daily  Democrat,  of  Chicago,  said  :  — 

"  This  is  the  great  speech  of  the  day.  It  paints  American  Slavery  as  it 
is,  and  as  it  has  never  been  painted  before.  No  Republican  can  look 
upon  the  picture  which  Charles  Snmner  draws  of  this  Barbarism  without 
feeling  his  heart  swell  with  hatred  against  it,  and  without  recording  a  new 
vow  to  labor  unceasingly  for  its  extinction." 

Early  in  the  controversy  Frederick  Douglass's  Paper  bore  testimony 
as  follows. 

"  At  last  the  right  word  has  been  spoken  in  the  Chamber  of  the  American 
Senate.  Long  and  sadly  have  we  waited  for  an  utterance  like  this,  and 
were  beginning  at  last  to  despair  of  getting  anything  of  the  sort  from  the 
present  generation  of  Republican  statesmen ;  but  Senator  Snmner  has  now 
exceeded  all  our  hopes,  and  filled  up  the  full  measure  of  all  that  we  have 
long  desired  in  the  Senatorial  discussions  of  Slavery.  He  has  dared  to 
grapple  directly  with  the  Hell-born  monster  itself.  It  is  not  the  unreason- 
ableness of  the  demands  of  Slavery,  not  the  aggressions  nor  the  mere  arro- 
gance of  the  Slave  Power,  insufferable  and  unconstitutional  as  these  have 
been,  that  have  now  so  thoroughly  aroused  the  soul  and  fired  the  tongue  of 
the  learned  and  eloquent  Senator  of  Massachusetts,  but  the  inherent  and 
brutal  barbarism  of  Slavery  itself.  .  .  .  His  manner  of  assault  is,  we 
think,  faultless.  It  was  calm,  self-poised,  earnest,  brave,  and  yet  com- 


252  THE  BARBARISM   OF  SLAVERY. 

pletely  guarded.  The  network  of  his  argument,  though  wonderfully  elabo- 
rate and  various,  is  everywhere,  and  in  all  its  parts,  strong  as  iron.  The 
whole  slaveholding  Propaganda  of  the  Senate  might  dash  themseJves  against 
it  in  a  compact  body,  without  breaking  the  smallest  fibre  of  any  of  its 
various  parts." 

The  Liberator,  in  an  editorial  article  by  William  Lloyd  Garrison, 
said  :  — 

"  Throughout,  its  spirit  was  lofty,  dignified,  and  bold,  indicative  of  high 
moral  intrepidity  and  a  noble  purpose.  No  attempts  were  made  to  inter- 
rupt him,  though  the  smothered  wrath  of  the  Southern  members  must  have 
been  excessive." 

The  correspondent  of  an  Antislavery  paper,  with  the  initials  W.  P., 
in  an  article  entitled  "Mr.  Sumner's  Last  and  Greatest  Speech," 
said  :  — 

"  The  Massachusetts  Senator  has  led  a  column  into  this  fortress,  which, 
in  the  name  of  God  and  Humanity,  must  eventually  silence  all  its  guns 
and  level  its  last  stone  to  the  ground.  Neither  statesman  nor  philanthro- 
pist has  ever,  in  like  manner,  rent  asunder  the  veil  and  exposed  to  the 
view  of  an  outraged  people  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery.  This  Mr.  Sumner 
has  done,  and  no  man  can  undo  it.  '  What  is  written  is  written.'  Slave- 
holders may  rave,  Americans  may  ignore,  Republicans  may  deplore,  but  the 
speech  and  the  name  of  Charles  Sumner  will  live  and  be  praised  when  the 
death-pall  of  oblivion  shall  cover  the  last  vestige  of  these  unhappy  men." 

The  Independent,  of  New  York,  said  :  — 

"  The  world  will  one  day  acknowledge  the  debt  of  gratitude  it  owes  to  the 
author  of  this  masterly  analysis.  For  four  hours  he  held  a  crowded  audi- 
ence in  attention,  including  large  numbers  of  Southern  people,  members  of 
Congress,  and  others." 

The  Antislavery  Standard,  of  New  York,  said  :  — 

"  Nothing  like  it,  in  elevation  of  tone  and  width  of  scope,  had  ever  before 
been  heard  in  that  Chamber.  It  was  worth,  to  the  author,  to  the  cause,  and 
to  the  country,  all  that  it  cost  to  produce  it.  For  Mr.  Sumner  it  was  a  great 
triumph  and  a  revenge.  And  yet  there  was  nothing  vindictive  in  its  tone  or 
spirit.  The  'bitterness  *  which  is  ascribed  to  it  was  in  its  truth.  No  doubt 
it  stirred  the  malignant  passions  of  the  Slave-Masters  to  the  deepest  depths; 
bnt  the  fault  was  theirs,  not  his.  His  facts  were  unquestionable,  his  logic 
beyond  the  reach  of  cavil,  and  his  rhetoric  eminently  becoming  and  self- 
respectful." 

While  newspapers  were  discussing  the  speech,  and  Republicans  were 
differing,  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  threw  its  weight  into  the 
scales  by  the  adoption  of  resolutions,  entitled  "Resolves  relating  to 


APPENDIX.  253 

Freedom  of  Speech,"  containing  the  following  support  of  Mr.  Sum- 
ner. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  people  of  this  Commonwealth  are  due 
and  are  hereby  tendered  to  the  Honorable  Charles  Sumner  for  his  recent 
manly  and  earnest  assertion  of  the  right  of  free  discussion  on  the  floor 
of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  we  repeat  the  well-considered  words  of 
our  predecessors  in  these  seats  in  approval  of '  Mr.  Sumner's  manliness  and 
courage  in  his  fearless  declaration  of  free  principles  and  his  defence  of  hu- 
man rights  and  free  institutions.' 

"  Resolved,  That  we  approve  the  thorough,  truthful,  and  comprehensive 
examination  of  the  institution  of  Slavery  embraced  in  Mr.  Sumner's  recent 
speech;  that  the  stern  morality  of  that  speech,  its  logic,  and  its  power 
command  our  entire  admiration;  and  that  it  expresses  with  fidelity  the  sen- 
timents of  Massachusetts  upon  the  question  therein  discussed." 

The  meaning  of  these  resolutions  was  not  left  doubtful  by  the  mover, 
J.  Q.  A.  Griffin,  who,  after  alluding  to  "certain  Conservative  Repub- 
lican newspapers,  such  as  the  New  York  Times  and  the  Courier  and 
Enquirer,  declaring  that  Mr.  Sumner  does  not  represent  the  Repub- 
lican party  in  any  degree,"  said,  "It  is  necessary  that  Massachusetts 
should  uphold  her  Senator." 

The  conflict  of  opinion  in  the  American  press  showed  itself  abroad. 
The  London  Times  took  the  lead  in  opposition.  Its  New  York  corre- 
spondent, entitled  "  Our  own  Correspondent,"  in  a  letter  dated  June  6, 
said  of  the  speech:  "A  more  studied  insult  to  Southern  slavehold- 
ing  members,  who  compose  nearly  one  half  of  the  body  in  which  the 
speech  was  delivered,  a  more  vituperative  attack  upon  the  institu- 
tion, a  more  bitter,  galling,  personal  assault,  or  one  more  calculated  to 
excite  the  worst  feelings,  can  hardly  be  imagined."  Then  quoting  cer- 
tain passages  without  explanation  or  context,  and  asking  the  reader  to 
"bear  in  mind  that  one  half  of  the  gentlemen  who  listened  to  him 
were  slaveholders,"  the  New  York  correspondent  adds,  "  These  ex- 
tracts are  sample  bricks  of  the  whole  structure." 

The  Times  itself  followed  in  a  leader  of  June  18,  where  the  tone  of 
its  New  York  correspondent  was  reproduced  ;  and  here  is  the  beginning 
of  those  attacks  on  the  Antislavery  cause  in  our  country  for  which  this 
journal  became  so  famous  during  the  war.  An  extract  will  show  its 
character. 

"  \^e  must,  in  the  name  of  English  Abolitionism  at  least,  protest  against 
these  foolish  and  vindictive  harangues.  Scarcely  has  the  frenzy  caused  by 
John  Brown's  outrage  begun  to  die  away  than  out  comes  Mr.  Suraner  with 
a  speech  which  will  set  the  whole  South  in  a  flame.  We  can  well  believa 


254         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

that  'he  prospects  of  the  Republican  party  have  been  already  damaged  by 
it.  Mr.  Sumner  is  one  of  that  class  of  politicians  who  should  be  muzzled 
by  their  friends.  The  man  who  can  in  personal  irritability  so  forget  the 
interests  of  a  great  cause  is  its  worst  enemy.  Slavery  existed  on  the 
American  Continent  long  before  the  assembly  of  which  Mr.  Sumner  is  a 
member.  On  it  depends,  or  is  supposed  to  depend,  the  prosperity  of  half 
the  Union;  the  looms  of  Lancashire  and  Normandy,  as  well  as  those  of 
Mr.  Sumner's  own  State,  are  supplied  by  slave-grown  cotton,  and  hundreds 
of  millions  of  Northern  dollars  are  invested  in  slave-worked  plantations. 
Shivery,  with  its  roots  thus  deep  in  the  soil,  is  not  to  be  rooted  up  by  any 
peevish  effort  of  rhetoric ;  and  we  may  predict  that  the  man  who  first  gains 
a  victory  for  the  cause  of  Abolition  will  be  of  very  different  temper  to 
the  Senator  from  Massachusetts." 

The  London  Morning  Star,  of  June  20,  replied  at  length,  and  with 
much  feeling.  Here  is  an  extract :  — 

"  Who  invested  the  Times  with  the  functions  of  the  organ  of  English 
Abolitionists?  Who  authorized  the  hoary  charlatan  of  Printing-House 
Square  to  speak  authoritatively  in  the  name  of  the  advocates  of  negro 
emancipation,  and,  as  their  assumed  representative,  to  bespatter  with  its 
venom  one  of  the  noblest  champions  of  that  holy  cause  ?  Assuredly  not 
the  men  of  whom,  with  the  mendacious  arrogance  which  has  become  to  it 
a  second  nature,  it  now  pretends  to  be  the  appointed  spokesman.  Let  it 
canvass,  if  it  will,  the  whole  legion  of  British  sympathizers  with  the  groan- 
ing slaves  in  the  Southern  States  of  America;  it  will  be  puzzled  to  find 
one  whom  its  coarse  and  unprincipled  attack  upon  Mr.  Sumner  has  not 
inspired  with  sentiments  of  mingled  indignation  and  disgust 

'•  We  are  convinced,  that,  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  the  noble  speech  of  Mr.  Sumner  will  awaken  reverence  for  his 
valor,  admiration  for  his  eloquence,  and  sympathetic  esteem  for  his  genial 
sympathy  for  the  down-trodden  slave;  at  any  rate,  we  believe  that  there  is 
but  one  journal  whose  inveterate  malignity  would  inspire  it  to  heap  censure 
upon  conduct  which  cannot  be  rewarded  by  too  abundant  homage." 

The  London  Morning  Advertiser  also  replied  at  length.  Here  is  a 
specimen  :  — 

"  We  are  not  satisfied  with  a  contemporary  who  chooses  to  describe  the 
noble  oration  of  Senator  Sumner  as  '  a  vituperative  attack,'  as  '  a  bitter,  gall- 
ing, personal  assault.'  It  is  full  of  noble  and  manly  thoughts,  expressed  in 
terms  of  becoming  strength,  but  not  too  strongly,  considering  the  magnitude 
of  the  evil  against  which  it  is  directed,  and  the  determination  of  the  party 
by  whom  it  is  maintained." 

The  London  Daily  News,  of  June  22,  followed. 

"  The  barbaric  character  of  Slavery,  and  of  its  supporters,  has  been  abun- 
dantly exhibited  through  the  press  of  some  Northern  States,  but  it  has 


APPENDIX.  255 

never  before  been  displayed  in  the  Senate ;  and  all  criticism  of  it  is  excluded 
from  the  Southern  press,  and  from  most  of  the  Northern.  In  the  progress 
of  the  revolutionary  conflict,  the  moment  has  arrived  for  the  truth  to  be  told 
in  the  Senate ;  and  Mr.  Sumner,  as  the  representative  of  the  most  venerable 
State  of  the  Union,  was  the  man  to  utter  it  He  described  the  character  of 
Slavery ;  he  proved  its  operation  upon  the  liberties  of  communities  and  the 
character  of  individuals ;  and  he  declared  the  resolution  of  the  Free  States 
to  get  rid  of  the  evil  of  being  implicated  in  such  a  barbarism,  and  to  save 
every  new  community  from  being  cursed  with  it  against  its  wilL" 

Then  came  Punch,  July  21st,  which  said  :  — 

"  Mr.  Stunner's  speech  was  chiefly  characterized  by  its  closeness  of  argu- 
ment and  lucidity  of  diction ;  but  he  occasionally  introduced  a  passage  of 
highly  wrought  eloquence,  or  an  image  of  singular  vividness ;  and  in  Eng- 
land, however  the  orator's  sentiments  might  have  been  objected  to  by  a 
political  antagonist,  Mr.  Sumner  would  have  received  the  compliments  of 
gentlemen  of  both  sides  upon  so  remarkable  an  exhibition  of  sustained 
power  and  intellectual  skill 

"Mr.  Punch  begs  leave  to  offer  his  respectful  congratulations  to  Mr. 
Sumner  upon  his  magnificent  speech,  and  even  more  earnestly  upon  the 
ample  and  perfect  testimony  that  was  instantly  given  by  the  besotted 
slave-owners  to  the  truth  of  his  assertion  of  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery.  It  is 
not  often  that  an  orator's  enemies  are  in  such  a  desperate  hurry  to  prove  his 
case  for  him.  But  here  he  was  scarcely  down,  when  the  Slave  party  rushed 
together  to  proclaim  themselves  the  ruffians  he  had  painted  them,  and  in 
the  published  copy  of  the  oration  Mr.  Sumner  has  given  at  once  the  calmest 
and  the  deadliest  blow  to  the  system  he  denounces,  —  for  he  prints  Mr. 
Chesnut's  speech.  All  the  bludgeons  in  the  hands  of  all  the '  chivalry  of  the 
South '  cannot  beat  that  demonstration  of  Mr.  Sumner's  case  out  of  the 
heads  of  the  public  in  and  out  of  the  States.  The  speech  should  be  reprinted 
in  England,  and  circulated  in  thousands.  What  is  the  Antislavery  Society 
about?" 

To  these  London  articles  may  be  added  passages  from  Miss  Marti- 
neau's  correspondence  with  the  Antislavery  Standard,  of  New  York. 
In  a  letter  under  date  of  July  2,  the  eminent  writer  said :  — 

"  I  may  just  say  that  Senator  Chesnut's  commentary  on  Mr.  Sumner's 
speech  is  very  amusing  here.  He  cannot  know  much  of  the  English  aris- 
tocracy, if  he  supposes  that  strangers  can  get  at  them  by  their  back  doors. 
Their  back  doors  are  well  looked  to;  but  in  Mr.  Sumner's  case  there  was  no 
question  of  back  door  or  front.  Our  aristocracy  went  out  to  seek  him,  — 
not  he  them.  I  need  not  say  that  we  heartily  rejoice  in  the  full  truth  hav- 
ing been  spoken  in  Congress.  The  occasion  brings  back  vividly  to  my 
memory  Mr.  Calhoun's  countenance  and  voice,  when  he  insisted  to  me,  per- 
emptorily putting  down  all  argument,  that  that  day  would  never  come: 
there  would  be  silence  about  Slavery  in  Congress  world  without  end.  This 


256         THE  BARBARISM -OF.  SLAVERY. 

was  in  1 836.  It  must  be  also  needless  for  me  to  say  that  no  unprejudiced  man 
or  woman  here  really  supposes  that  any  terms  can  be  kept  with  Slavery  and 
Slaveholders.  The  crisis  of  your  revolution  may  be  precipitated  by  such 
open  defiance  in  the  Federal  Legislature ;  but  we  see  that  it  was  the  South 
•which  brought  on  the  revolution  and  uttered  the  defiance,  and  that  the  only 
course  for  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  is  to  take  care  that  the  revolu- 
tion is  steered  straight  by  compass  while  there  is  such  a  fearful  tampering 
with  the  helm.  To  speak  gingerly  of  Barbarism,  when  his  business  was  to 
get  before  his  country  the  choice  between  Barbarism  and  Civilization,  was, 
of  course,  impossible ;  and  there  could  be  no  fidelity  short  of  such  a  thorough 
exposure  and  denunciation  as  he  has  offered." 

Then,  under  date  of  July  16,  Miss  Martineau  wrote  again  :  — 

"  Since  I  wrote  last,  we  have  had  the  opportunity  of  reading  Mr.  Sumner's 
speech  entire.  I  know  no  instance  in  which  it  was  so  necessary  to  have 
read  the  whole  in  order  to  understand  any  part ;  and  certainly  I  can  recall 
no  case  in  which  careless  and  conceited  critics  have  cut  a  more  wretched 
figure  in  condemning  a  production  before  they  understood  it.  They  supposed 
themselves  on  safe  ground,  when  they  cited  passages  of  denunciation,  leav- 
ing (as  such  isolated  passages  must)  an  impression  that  the  speaker  had  out- 
raged the  principles  and  spirit  of  legislative  debate  by  personal  imputation 
and  provocation  to  passion.  Mr.  Sumner's  own  friends  here  regretted  what 
they  saw,  simply  because  personal  accusation  and  insult  can  never  do  any 
good,  and  must,  in  a  crisis  like  that  of  your  polity,  render  a  complete  rup- 
ture inevitable.  As  soon  as  we  got  the  whole  speech,  however,  the  aspect 
of  the  quoted  paragraphs  was  entirely  changed.  Instead  of  a  piece  of  stimu- 
lating invective,  we  find  the  speech  to  be  a  chapter  of  history,  and  an  ex- 
position, calm  and  rational,  of  the  workings  of  a  social  institution  which  is 
brought  forward  for  discussion,  and  so  placed  on  its  trial,  by  Mr.  Sumner's 
opponents.  To  me  it  appears  a  production  of  altogether  incalculable  impor- 
tance, apart  from  its  merits  in  detail.  Till  now,  if  we  could  have  met  with 
such  a  phenomenon  in  England  as  a  person  who  was  not  convinced  of  the 
wickedness  and  folly  of  Slavery,  we  should  not  have  known  where  to  turn 
for  a  Compact,  reliable,  serviceable  statement  of  the  modern  case  of  slave 
and  free  labor." 

Another  testimony,  purporting  to  be  "by  a  distinguished  writer  of 
England,"  appeared  in  the  American  papers  at  the  time. 

"  Thanks,  many  thanks,  for  Sumner's  noble  speech.  It  has  been  read 
with  swelling  throats  and  tearful  eyes.  It  is  a  mighty  effort  towards  wiping 
out  the  monstrous  blot  that  disfigures  your  fair  country.  I  like  well  the 
way  in  which  he  takes  head  after  head  of  the  foul  Hydra,  and  severs  each 
as  completely  as  ever  Hercules  did;  yet  his  labor  was  child's  play  in 
comparison." 

To  this  English  list  may  be  joined  a  poem  prompted  by  this  speech. 
The  New  York  Independent,  where  it  first  appeared  in  our  country, 


APPENDIX.  257 

announced  that  the  initials  subscribed  to  it  were  those  of  Mrs.  L.  W. 
Fellowes,  a  daughter  of  Rowland  Hill,  originator  of  the  cheap  postage 
system  in  England. 

"TO  CHARLES   SUMNEB. 

"  As  one  who  wandering  lone  is  sudden  stirred 

With  a  wild  gush  of  hidden  woodland  singing, 
Doth  picture  to  himself  the  beauteous  bird 

That  with  sweet  concord  sets  the  greenwood  ringing, 
And  gazes  eager  round,  and  is  full  fain 
To  mark  the  warbler  fair,  yet  gazes  still  in  vain,  — 

"  So  I,  being  melted  to  my  inmost  soul 

By  this  thy  noble  plaint  for  Freedom's  sake, 
Do  grieve  that  ocean-tides  between  us  roll, 

And  that  I  ne'er  can  see  thee  strive  to  break 
The  shackles,  e'en  more  harsh  than  those  that  bind 
The  slave-born  limbs,  —  the  shackles  of  the  mind. 

"  Go  on,  brave  heart !  and  faint  not,  though  thy  way 
Be  rough  and  rude,  and  torn  with  many  a  thorn  : 
All  England  would  thee  hail,  if  some  white  day 
Thou,  harassed  by  thy  country's  bitter  scorn, 
Shouldst  seek  our  friendly  shore,  and  rest  awhile 
Thy  wearied  soul  in  this  our  happy  Isle. 

"L.  W.  F 

"  WOLVERHAMPTON,  ENGLAND." 

This  speech  took  its  place  in  foreign  bibliography.  French  writers 
who  discussed  American  Slavery  cited  it,  among  whom  was  that  ex- 
cellent ally  of  our  country,  M.  Edouard  Laboulaye,  who  wrote  always 
with  equal  knowledge  and  friendship.  After  quoting  the  famous  words 
by  which  Wesley  describes  and  blasts  Shivery,  he  gives  a  definition 
from  this  speech. 

"  The  Americans  of  the  North,  who  calculate  even  to  the  beatings  of  the 
heart,  have  summed  up  this  multifold  crime  in  five  axioms.  It  is,  say  they, 
man  become  the  property  of  his  fellow-man,  marriage  abolished,  paternity 
destroyed,  intelligence  systematically  stifled,  labor  forced  and  unpaid,  —  in 
other  terms,  tyranny,  confiscation,  and  robbery.  Such  are  the  essential 
vices  of  Slavery,  vices  independent  of  the  goodness  or  the  wickedness  of 
the  master,  vices  irremediable,  —  for  to  correct  them  is  to  acknowledge  that 
the  Slave  has  some  rights,  it  is  to  make  a  man  of  him,  it  is  to  commence 
emancipation.  Such,  without  exaggeration  and  without  declamation,  is  the 
'  Barbarism  of  Slavery,'  as  the  eloquent  Senator  of  Massachusetts  has  justly 
called  it." 

VOL.  vi.  — 17 


258         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

The  able  Frenchman  then  adds  in  &  note  :  — 

"  Mr.  Sumner  is  the  Senator  who  was  struck  down  in  the  Senate  Cham- 
ber by  a  colleague  from  the  South,  for  which  the  assailant  received  a  cane 
of  honor,  awarded  by  his  admirers  at  the  South.  The  welcome  which  Mr. 
Sumner  in  turn  received  in  England  and  France,  where  he  came  to  rees- 
tablish his  health,  must  have  proved  to  him  how  much  on  the  Old  Conti- 
nent are  still  esteemed  courage  and  talent  put  forth  in  the  service  of  hu- 
manity." * 

CORRESPONDENCE. 

THE  testimony  of  correspondents  was  in  harmony  with  the  Anti- 
slavery  press.  Both  in  character  and  number,  their  letters  were  of  sin- 
gular authority.  They  show  the  sentiments  of  good  men,  and  the  extent 
to  which  the  country  was  absorbed  by  the  question  of  Slavery,  although 
politicians  sought  to  put  it  out  of  sight.  And  since  this  discussion 
culminated  in  war,  they  throw  light  on  the  origin  of  that  terrible  con- 
flict, and  therefore  belong  to  history.  Brief  extracts  are  given  from  a 
portion  of  the  letters  within  reach. 

There  can  be  no  better  name  for  the  beginning  than  John  G.  Whit- 
tier,  the  poet,  who  wrote  from  his  home  at  Amesbury,  Massachusetts : — 

"  I  have  just  finished  reading  the  speech.  It  is  all  that  I  could  wish  for. 
It  takes  the  dreadful  question  out  of  the  region  of  party  and  expediency, 
and  holds  it  up  in  the  clear  sun-blaze  of  truth  and  reason,  in  all  its  deform- 
ity, and  with  the  blackness  of  the  pit  clinging  about  it.  In  the  light  of  that 
speech  the  civilized  world  will  now  see  American  Slavery  as  it  is.  There  is 
something  really  awful  in  its  Rhadamanthine  severity  of  justice ;  but  it  was 
needed. 

"  It  especially  rejoices  thy  personal  friends  to  see  in  the  speech  snch  con- 
firmation of  thy  complete  restoration  to  health  and  strength  of  body  and 
mind.  It  was  the  task  of  a  giant" 

Frederick  Douglass,  once  a  slave,  wrote  from  Rochester,  New  York  : — 

"  I  wish  I  could  tell  you  how  deeply  grateful  I  am  to  you,  and  to  God,  for 
the  speech  you  have  now  been  able  to  make  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
Yon  spoke  to  the  Senate  and  the  nation,  but  you  have  a  nobler  and  a 
mightier  audience.  The  civilized  world  will  hear  you,  and  rejoice  at  the 
tremendous  exposure  of  the  meanness,  brutality,  blood-guiltiness,  hell-black 
iniquity,  and  barbarism  of  American  Slavery.  As  one  who  has  felt  the 
horrors  of  this  stupendous  violation  of  all  human  rights,  I  venture  thus  far 
to  trespass  upon  your  time  and  attention.  My  heart  is  full,  Sir,  and  I  could 
pour  out  my  feelings  at  length,  but  I  know  how  precious  is  your  time.  I 
shall  print  every  word  of  your  speech." 

»  La  Querre  Civile  aux  Etate-Unis  :  Etudes  Morales  et  Politiques,  p.  269. 


APPENDIX.  259 

Hon.  S.  P.  Chase,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States, 
wrote  from  Columbus,  Ohio  :  — 

"  Your  great  speech  came  to  me,  under  your  frank,  this  morning.  I  had 
read  it  all  —  in  the  Bulletin  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  Times  of  New  York,  and 
in  the  Globe  —  before  I  received  the  pamphlet  copy.  It  is  gratifying  to 
know  that  the  New  York  Herald  also  prints  it,  and  that,  through  various 
channels  of  publication,  it  will  reach  every  corner  of  the  land,  '  cogent 
omnes  ante  thranum.'1  '  C'estpresqu'tm  discourt  antique,'  said  a  French  gen- 
tleman to  me  last  Saturday.  I  say,  '  Ctut  bienplutS  " 

Hon.  Francis  Gillette,  an  Abolitionist,  and  formerly  Senator  of  the 
United  States  from  Connecticut,  wrote  from  Hartford  :  — 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  how  pleased  I  am  with  your  late  speech  on  the  '  Bar- 
barism of  Slavery.'  It  makes  a  lustrum  in  the  Senate,  and  an  era  in  the 
history  of  the  Antislavery  cause.  But  I  am  afraid  the  bloodthirsty  barba- 
rians are  intent  on  assassinating  you.  Look  out  for  them,  and  when  they 
apologize  to  you  with  the  pretension  of  drunkenness,  understand  them  to 
mean  they  are  drunk  with  rage.  Do  not  believe  them." 

Hon.  Carl  Schurz,  the  German  orator,  afterwards  Senator  of  the 
United  States  from  Missouri,  wrote  from  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin  :  — 

"  Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  on  the  success  of  your  great  speech.  It 
did  me  good  to  hear  again  the  true  ring  of  the  moral  Antislavery  sentiment. 
If  we  want  to  demolish  the  Slave  Power,  we  must  educate  the  hearts  of  the 
people  no  less  than  then:  heads." 

Hon.  Joshua  K.  Giddings,  so  long  a  champion  of  Freedom  in  Con- 
gress, wrote  from  his  home  at  Jefferson,  Ohio  :  — 

"Permit  me  to  congratulate  you.  My  heart  swells  with  gratitude  to 
God  that  you  are  again  permitted  to  stand  in  the  Senate  and  maintain  the 
honor  of  a  nation  and  of  mankind.  I  dared  not  say  to  you  how  much  I 
feared  the  effect  of  that  excitement  which  I  knew  must  attend  you  while 
speaking  in  the  Senate.  But  now  you  have  passed  the  most  trying  point, 
I  hope  no  evil  effects  will  result  to  your  health ;  but,  however  health  or  lite 
may  be  affected,  you  have  again  spoken." 

Then  again  the  veteran  champion  wrote :  — 

"  Of  all  the  subjects  before  you,  no  one  was  so  well  adapted  to  the  occa- 
sion as  the  '  Barbarism  of  Slavery.'  And  no  man  was  so  well  adapted  to 
the  subject  as  yourself.  I  was  profoundly  grateful  that  you  succeeded  in 
pronouncing  the  speech,  —  and  still  more  so,  when  I  read  it.  It  is  worthy  of 
yourself.  Thus  far  my  desires  and  prayers  in  regard  to  you  have  been  fully 
met.  May  your  services  to  your  country  and  mankind  continue  so  long  as 
life  continues ! " 


260         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Hon.  George  W.  Julian,  another  champion  ia  Congress,  wrote  from 
his  home  at  Centre ville,  Indiana  :  — 

"  I  am  exceedingly  rejoiced  that  you  have  made  your  great  speech,  and 
said  just  what  I  understand  you  have  said  about  the  whole  question  of  Slav- 
ery. But  I  grow  sick,  indignant,  and  nervous,  on  reading  the  cowardly 
notices  of  the  speech  by  windy  Republican  journals." 

Hon.  John  Jay,  afterwards  Minister  to  Austria,  wrote  from  New 
York  :  — 

"  I  wrote  you  hastily  my  congratulations  and  thanks  on  your  last  power- 
ful effort,  the  effect  of  which  I  think  will  be  stupendous  and  permanent, 
giving  a  vigor  to  the  cause,  and  a  definiteness  to  the  opinion  of  the  North, 
and  an  example  of  pluck  more  powerful  in  its  persuasive  influence  than  a 
thousand  essays." 

Hon.  Gerrit  Smith,  always  champion  of  the  slave,  wrote  from  his 
home  at  Peterborough,  New  York  :  — 

"  I  have  this  day  read  your  speech  as  it  appeared  in  the  New  York  Times 
of  the  6th.  God  be  praised  for  the  proof  it  affords  that  you  are  yourself 
again,  —  ay,  more  than  yourself!  I  say  more, — for,  though  the  'Crime 
against  Kansas'  was  the  speech  of  your  life,  this  is  the  speech  of  your  life. 
This  eclipses  that.  It  is  far  more  instructive,  and  will  be  far  more  useful, 
and  it  is  not  at  all  inferior  to  the  other  in  vigor  or  rhetoric. 

"  The  slaveholders  will  all  read  this  speech,  and  will  all  be  profited  by  its 
clear,  certain,  and  convincing  truths.  The  candid  among  them  will  not  dis- 
like you  for  it;  not  a  few  of  them  will,  at  least  in  their  hearts,  thank  and 
honor  you  for  it.  Would  that  they  all  might  see  that  there  is  no  wrong,  no 
malice  whatever,  in  your  heart!  Would  that  they  all  might  see  that  you 
do  not  hate  the  slaveholder,  but  pity  him  as  the  victim  of  a  false  educa- 
tion !  .  . .  . 

"  I  have  read  the  editorial  of  the  Times  on  your  speech.  It  is  more  than 
unjust,  it  is  wicked.  Nor  has  the  Tribune,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  any  praises 
for  you.  But  this  is  their  way,  or  rather  one  of  their  ways,  for  promoting 
the  interests  of  your  Republican  party." 

Mr.  Smith  added  in  a  subsequent  letter  :  — 

"  I  am  scattering  through  my  county  the  great  speech  of  your  life :  I 
mean  your  speech  on  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery.  It  is  just  to  the  taste 
of  Republicans  here,  —  for  the  Republicans  here  are  nearly  all  Abolition- 
ists." 

Rev.  John  Pierpont,  lifelong  Abolitionist,  and  poet,  wrote  from  the 
home  of  Gerrit  Smith,  whose  guest  he  was  :  — 

"  I  finished  the  reading  of  your  great  speech  in  the  car  on  my  way  hither, 
and,  permit  me  tc  say,  thank  you  for  it  with  my  whole  soul,  —  notwithstand- 


APPENDIX.  261 

ing  the  qualified  commendations  of  it  that  may  have  found  their  way  into 
some  of  the  Republican  papers." 

Hon.  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  another  lifelong  Abolitionist,  and  able  law- 
yer, wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  I  rejoice  that  you  have  had  the  courage  to  exhibit  in  a  systematic  man- 
ner the  essential  barbarism  of  the  institution.  Everywhere  I  hear  your 
speech  spoken  of  in  the  highest  terms  of  admiration.  Even  the  most  des- 
perate conservatives  are  compelled  to  acknowledge  your  eloquence  and 
ability.  Nor  do  they  deny  the  justice  of  your  attack  on  the  system  of  Slav- 
ery. But  they  say  the  time  you  chose  for  making  this  assault  was  inop- 
portune and  ill-judged,  that  it  could  only  retard  the  admission  of  Kansas, 
that  it  is  likely  to  have  a  bad  effect  on  slaveholders,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  It  seems 
to  me,  however,  that  no  occasion  for  denouncing  an  institution  which  is  the 
ruin  and  disgrace  of  our  nation  can  be  inopportune." 

"William  Lloyd  Garrison,  who  gave  his  name  to  a  school  of  Abolition- 
ists, and  was  himself  a  host  in  constancy  and  lofty  principle,  wrote 
from  Boston  :  — 

"  Allow  me  warmly  to  congratulate  you  upon  your  complete  restoration 
to  health,  and  upon  the  successful  delivery  of  your  great  speech  in  Con- 
gress, the  potency  of  which  is  seen  in  the  writhings  and  denunciations  of 
the  slaveholding  oligarchy  and  their  base  Northern  allies,  quite  as  much  as 
in  the  commendations  and  rejoicings  of  your  numerous  friends  and  ad- 
mirers." 

Wendell  Phillips,  the  orator  of  Freedom,  and  early  friend,  wrote  :  — 

"I  rejoice  with  a  full  heart,  not  only,  not  so  much  perhaps,  in  your 
glorious  speech,  as  in  what  we  so  longed  for  and  hoped,  that  you  are  again 
on  your  feet,  again  in  harness,  —  it  is  so  heart-stirring  and  cheering  to  hear 
your  voice  once  more  along  the  lines,  and  just  now,  too,  when  you  and  a 
very  few  others  seem  to  embody  all  the  real  Antislavery  there  is  in  politics. 
Those  were  '  four '  nobly  used  hours.  'T  was  a  blast  of  the  old  well-known 
bugle,  and  fell  on  welcoming  ears,  and  thankful  ones." 

Edmund  Quincy,  the  accomplished  writer  and  determined  Abolition- 
ist, wrote  from  Dedham  :  — 

"  The  spirit  moveth  me  to  tell  yon  how  much  I  admired  your  speech  of 
last  Monday ,  the  rather  that  I  see  that  the  dishes  of  skim-milk  that  you  are 
trying  to  stir  to  an  honorable  action  are  turning  sour  to  your  word.  The 
fact  is,  the  leading  Republicans  not  only  don't  know  enough  to  go  in  when 

it  rains,  but  they  quarrel  with  the  man  that  offers  them  an  umbrella 

I  beg  you  to  believe  that  the  editors  do  not  express  the  real  feeling  of  the 
Republicans  about  your  speech,  as  far  as  I  have  talked  with  them.  The 
common  people  received  it  gladly;  and  ite  great  power,  eloquence,  and  ex- 


262  THE   BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY. 

haustive  and  unanswerable  quality  everybody  acknowledges,  even  the 
enemv.  You  have  done  a  good  service  to  the  country,  and  a  great  one  to 
your  party,  if  they  have  the  sense  to  make  use  of  it." 

Lewis  Tappan,  the  ancient  and  leading  Abolitionist,  wrote  from 
New  York  :  — 

"  The  speech  is  timely  and  valuable.  Everywhere  I  have  heard  it  highly 
commended.  Still  some  Republicans  dislike  it,  at  this  crisis.  But  the 
party  needs  having  their  attention  directed  to  the  moral  aspects  of  the  ques- 
tion. May  the  good  Lord  protect  and  bless  you,  and  enable  you  to  feel  a 
consciousness  of  his  presence  and  inspiration  !  " 

J.  Miller  M'Kim,  an  active  Abolitionist,  who  did  much  for  the  cause, 
wrote  from  Philadelphia  :  — 

"  The  speech  is  in  great  demand  here.  Twenty-five  cents  a  copy  have 
been  offered  for  the  Herald  or  Bulletin  containing  it.  I  am  disgusted  with 
the  notices  of  it  which  have  appeared  in  some  of  the  leading  Republican 
prints.  Maugre  them  all,  I  say,  and  all  right-minded  men  will  say,  it  was 
judiciwu,  well-timed,  and  german  to  the  question  before  the  country." 

Rev.  Parker  Pillsbury,  the  Garrisonian  Abolitionist,  who  thought  the 
Republican  party  too  feeble,  wrote  from  Cumington,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  Amid  the  profusion  of  epistolary  plaudits  you  will  doubtless  receive 
for  your  late  powerful  protest  against  Slavery,  a  voice  humble  as  mine  can 
be  to  you  only  of  slight  account.  And  yet  I  cannot  forbear  my  congratula- 
tions at  your  so  far  recovered  vigor  and  health,  and  the  cause  of  Freedom 
and  Humanity,  that  it  still  receives  the  powerful  aid  and  advocacy  of  your 
voice  and  influence.  I  only  regret  that  a  speech  of  such  power  as  your  last 
must  be  laid  on  the  altar  of  Republicanism,  while  to  the  leaders  of  the  party 
your  utterances  are  distasteful,  if  not  absolutely  terrific." 

Mrs.  Maria  Weston  Chapman,  the  courageous  Abolitionist,  always 
faithful  and  intelligent,  wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  Will  you  accept  my  hearty  thanks  for  your  speech  ?  Exciting,  as  it 
must,  a  rage  of  hatred  in  some,  proportionate  to  the  love  and  gratitude  it 
secures  from  others,  I  am  sure  your  life  is  in  danger;  but  with  you,  the 
greater  the  danger,  the  greater  the  courage,  —  and  courage  is  preservative. 
No  need  to  bid  you  be  of  good  cheer :  one  in  your  place  cannot  help  being 

80." 

Rev.  George  B.  Cheever,  whose  soul  was  in  the  Antislavery  cause, 
wrote  from  New  York  :  — 

"  I  bless  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  and  praise  God  for  his  good- 
ness in  sparing  you  and  returning  you  to  your  place  in  the  Senate  for  that 
great  work.  It  is  a  mighty  blow,  struck  just  at  the  right  time,  with  a  sever- 


APPENDIX.  263 

ity,  pungency,  and  hearty  earnestness  that  it  does  one's  very  soul  good  to 
witness.  God  bless  you,  and  keep  you,  my  dear  friend  and  brother !  —  for 
you  must  allow  me  to  use  this  language,  since  you  have  endeared  yourself 
to  every  lover  of  freedom  and  justice,  of  truth  and  righteousness,  and  to 
every  friend  of  the  slave,  more  than  ever;  and  your  noble  course  might 
justify  even  a  personal  stranger  in  addressing  you  thus.  You  are  very 
dear  to  us  all." 

Rev.  "William  H.  Furness,  the  Unitarian  preacher,  whose  gentle  na- 
ture was  always  aroused  by  Slavery,  wrote  from  Philadelphia  :  — 

"  I  have  just  read  the  telegram  of  your  speech,  and  I  must  tell  you  that  I 
have  no  words  to  express  my  admiration,  gratitude,  lovt».  It  is  a  grand 
justification  of  your  non-resignation  of  your  seat.  The  grace  of  God  is  on 
you,  —  his  special  favor,  in  that  you  have  had  the  will  and  the  opportunity 
for  so  faithful,  so  noble  an  utterance.  It  is  a  planetary  space  beyond  and 
above  the  Republican  party." 

In  another  letter  he  wrote  farther  : 

"  I  have  no  words  to  describe  the  blessed  work  you  have  done.  Never 
for  one  instant  mind  the  '  cold-shoulderism '  of  the  Tribune,  or  the  heartless- 
ness  around  you;  but  rest  assured  that  you  have  sent  the  truth  into  the 
inmost  being  of  the  Southern  men  who  heard  you.  They  may  affect  con- 
tempt by  their  silence,  or  they  may  rail  and  foam  like  Chesnut,  but  they 
know  that  you  have  spoken  the  bitter  and  biting  truth  without  bitterness 
and  without  fear,  as  became  a  Christian  gentleman.  I  declare  to  you  that  I 
consider  that  you  are  paid  for  the  inaction  and  suffering  of  the  last  four 
years,  and  so  are  we.  You  cannot,  no  one  can,  begin  to  estimate  the  sub- 
stantial work  that  you  have  done,  both  in  regard  to  the  essential  truth, 
which  you  have  demonstrated,  and  more  to  the  perfect  spirit  and  manner 
of  the  work." 

Rev.  0.  B.  Frothingham,  the  courageous  clergyman  and  reformer, 
wrote  from  New  York  :  — 

'  Expressing  my  satisfaction  and  delight  with  your  recent  speech  in  the 
Senate,  I  do  not  know  which  most  to  be  thankful  for,  —  the  complete  restora- 
tion of  your  physical  and  mental  power  indicated  by  it,  or  the  unabated 
courage  it  manifests,  or  the  undazzled  moral  vision  it  displays  in  every  sen- 
tence. To  read  it  is  like  inhaling  a  draught  of  air  in  midsummer  from  the 
cliffs  of  Nahant  or  the  hills  of  New  Hampshire.  It  gives  a  conscience  to 
legislation,  and  sets  us  all  back  upon  the  everlasting  truth  and  rectitude." 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Hall,  an  excellent  clergyman,  beloved  by  all  who 
knew  him,  wrote  from  Dorchester,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  Nobly  you  have  dared  to  speak  the  truth,  where  to  speak  the  truth, 
as  you  well  knew,  was  to  imperil  life  :  I  do  not  know  hi  our  day  a  nobler 


264         THE  BAKBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

instance  of  moral  bravery.  And  the  speech  itself,  so  clear,  so  strong,  so  im- 
provable in  its  arguments,  so  unanswerable  in  its  facts,  so  unexceptionable 
in  its  tone,  so  free  from  personalities  (save  where  for  truth's  sake  and  the 
cause  they  must  have  been),  so  comprehensive,  so  conclusive,  so  great,  so 
good,  so  Christian,  so  worthy,  —  yes,  of  a  Christian  statesman,  —  so  lifted 
in  tone  and  character  above  the  utterances  of  that  place,  —  my  soul  thanks 
you  for  it,  —  thanks  God  with  added  fervor,  that  he  spared  your  life,  and 
brought  you  back  to  your  honored  seat,  and  enabled  you  to  such  fidelity. 

It  richly  pays  for  these  years  of  waiting Whatever  a  partisan  press 

may  say,  whatever  political  opponents  and  political  friends  may  say, 
whatever  of  coolness  and  mistrust  may  be  expressed,  where  you  had  a 
right  to  expect  sympathy  and  support,  be  assured  that  deep  in  the  hearts 
of  multitudes  of  all  parties  you  are  honored,  and  will  be  by  increasing  num- 
bers. I  know  it  from  what  I  know  of  human  nature  in  myself.  I  know  that 
my  feelings  must  be  shared.  I  know  that  the  secret  reverence  not  only  of 
the  true-hearted,  but  of  all  who  have  not  sunk  below  the  mark  where 
appreciation  of  true-heartedness  is  impossible,  must  be  given  to  him  who 
has  stood  forth  in  the  intrepidity  of  a  Christian  manliness,  to  declare,  in  the 
face  and  beneath  the  power  of  its  violators,  strong  in  power  and  reckless 
in  deed,  the  eternal  law  of  rectitude  and  mercy." 

Rev.  Convers  Francis,  the  learned  professor  and  stanch.  Abolitionist, 
wrote  from  Harvard  University  :  — 

"  Thanks,  many  and  most  hearty  thanks,  for  that  great,  very  great  speech, 
and  for  your  kindness  in  sending  it  to  me.  What  a  portraiture  of  the  Bar- 
barism of  Slavery!  And  what  a  master  hand  to  draw  it!  Such  a  picture 
none  but  an  artist  of  the  highest  order  could  paint.  I  must  tell  you,  Mr. 
Sumner,  that  nothing  on  this  great  and  fearful  subject  has  ever  so  filled  and 
satisfied  my  whole  soul.  '  Too  severe,'  say  some ;  '  not  good  policy  to  irritate 
the  South.'  I  tell  them,  Not  an  iota  too  strong.  I  would  not  have  a  single 
sentence  or  word  less  pungent  or  forcible,  if  I  could ;  because  every  sentence 
and  every  word  are  loaded  deep  with  truth,  such  truth  as  I  rejoice  that 

somebody  is  found  in  our  Congress  to  give  utterance  to You  have 

done  great  and  excellent  things  before,  Mr.  Sumner,  but  this,  I  must  say, 
seems  to  me  the  greatest  and  most  excellent  of  all.  The  abundance  of  facts 
from  the  most  unquestionable  sources,  the  admirable  arrangement,  the 
keen  and  searching  application  of  the  argument,  the  masterly  logic,  and  the 
manly  eloquence  of  the  speech  will  make  it  a  document  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness for  all  coming  time."  l 

Rev.  John  T.  Sargent,  Abolitionist  and  faithful  reformer,  wrote  from 
Boston  :  — 

"  Every  column  of  the  paper,  as  I  took  it  up,  seemed  to  gleam  on  me  like 
the  golden  lamps  of  the  Apocalypse.  How  irresistible  are  your  arguments! 

1  Further  testimony  of  Professor  Francis  will  be  found  in  Weiss's  Discourse  occa- 
sioned by  t/ie  Death  of  Convers  Francis,  D.D.,  pp.  57,  58. 


APPENDIX.  265 

How  pungent,  and  yet  how  Christian,  your  rebuke  of  this  sore  iniquity  of  our 
time !  How  sharp  and  clear  goes  the  sword  of  your  spirit  through  all  the 
sophistry  of  your  opponents !  My  soul  has  been  in  a  glow  all  through  the 
reading^  and  over  the  pathos  of  parts  I  have  cried  as  if  my  heart  would 
break." 

Rev.  Frederick  Hinckley,  Free-Soiler  from  the  start,  wrote  from 
Lowell :  — 

"  I  write  this  hasty  note  to  tell  you  how  much  I  thank  you  (and  I  think 
the  heart  of  New  England  thanks  you,  too)  for  your  recent  speech  on  the 
'  Barbarism  of  Slavery,'  in  its  moral  tone  and  outspoken  truthfulness  so  far 
above  all  other  Kepublican  speeches  in  Congress  or  Convention,  carrying  us 
back  to  the  remembrance  of  the  old  Free-Soil  times,  when  the  party  had 
more  moral  than  political  power,  and,  not  expecting  success,  could  speak 
right  out" 

Rev.  Beriah  Green,  one  of  the  most  devoted  among  Abolitionists, 
VTote  from  "Wnitesborough,  New  York  :  — 

"  Such  massive,  enduring  truth !  uttered  so  clearly,  definitely,  fully ! 
The  argument  so  perspicuous,  compact,  conclusive !  The  illustrations  so 
apt,  so  fresh,  so  sparkling!  The  conclusions  so  weighty,  grand,  impres- 
sive !  Every  paragraph  pervaded,  radiant,  with  scholarly  beauty.  When  did 
literature,  our  own  or  other,  ever  more  willingly,  more  generously,  come, 
all  vigorous  and  graceful,  to  the  aid  of  any  of  her  sons  ? 

"  I  bless  God,  and  thank  you,  for  the  deep-toned,  comprehensive  humanity 
which  pervades,  which  consecrates  and  hallows  your  paragraphs.  I  found 
myself,  as  I  moved  on  step  by  step  through  your  trains  of  thought,  quick- 
ened and  encouraged,  inspired  and  refreshed.  The  impression  which  the 
speech  as  a  whole  made  upon  my  innermost  spirit  it  is  my  privilege  to 
cherish  and  retain.  I  shah1, 1  trust,  be  more  fraternal  in  my  regards  for  all 
my  fellows  forever,  for  your  brave,  manly  utterances.  Blessings  on  your 
head,  heart,  and  estate !  " 

Rev.  Thomas  C.  Upham,  author,  professor,  and  devoted  friend  of 
Peace,  wrote  from  Bowdoin  College,  in  Maine  :  — 

"  Your  history  in  Congress  has  been  a  providential  one.  I  do  most  fully 
believe  that  the  hand  of  God  has  been  in  it  from  the  beginning.  I  thought 
that  the  blow  which  struck  you  down  in  the  Senate  was  destined,  through 
the  overrulings  of  Providence,  to  break  the  chains  of  the  slave,  and  I  think 
so  still.  Allow  me  to  congratulate  you,  in  connection  with  multitudes  of 
others,  on  your  return  to  the  country  and  the  Senate,  and  on  the  utterance 
of  great  and  true  and  kind  words  which  will  have  an  influence  on  the 
hearts  of  thinking  men  throughout  the  nation." 

Rev.  Henry  M.  Dexter,  religious  editor,  and  zealous  historian  of  the 
Plymouth  Pilgrims,  wrote  :  — 
7* 


266         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

"  I  cannot  help  feeling,  my  dear  Sir,  that  you  have  made  the  most  effec- 
tive argument  which  the  country  has  yet  listened  to  on  the  general  subject 
of  the  evils  of  that  horrible  system  under  which  our  nation  is  reeling  like 
a  giant  poisoned  by  an  adder.  God  bless  you  for  your  faithfulness,  so 
calm,  so  dignified,  so  just,  so  overwhelming  in  its  logical  results,  and 
grant  that  in  '  the  good  time  coming '  your  voice  may  often  be  lifted  in  that 
Senate  House  to  more  appreciative  and  cooperative  auditors!" 

Rev.  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  the  eminent  divine  and  eloquent  preacher, 
wrote  from  New  York  :  — 

"  My  first  duty  as  a  Christian  is  to  thank  God  that  he  has  restored  you 
to  the  Senate  with  physical  and  mental  vigor  equal  to  the  great  debate  in 
which  you  have  just  borne  so  noble  a  part.  My  first  duty  as  a  patriot  is  to 
thank  you  for  a  speech  which  meets  fully,  squarely,  ably,  eloquently,  con- 
clusively, the  one  issue  upon  which  our  national  welfare  now  depends. 
My  first  duty  as  a  friend  is  to  express  the  high  satisfaction  with  which  I 
have  read  the  speech  throughout,  every  line  and  letter  of  it,  and  the  peculiar 
pleasure  with  which  I  have  observed  your  self-control  and  avoidance  of 
personalities  under  provocation,  and  your  fearless  and  searching  exposure 
of  the  barbarism  and  criminality  of  Slavery  under  the  very  eye  of  its  bully- 
ing champions  and  in  the  very  place  where  you  had  suffered  its  deadly 
malice.  I  am  ashamed  of  the  timid  comments,  almost  deprecating  indeed, 
of  the  Tribune  and  Post  upon  the  only  speech  in  the  Senate  which  has 
reached  the  core  ot  the  question.  If  the  Republican  party  is  to  seek 
success  by  blinking  the  real  issue  of  tne  right  or  wrong  of  Slavery,  I  am 
prepared  to  witness  its  defeat  without  regret." 

Rev.  Thomas  T.  Stone,  the  persuasive  preacher,  and  student  of  Plato, 
wrote  from  Bolton,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  It  is  scarcely  necessary  that  I  should  tell  you  how  much  I  thank  you 
for  your  public  deeds.  I  was  one  who  wished  your  seat  in  the  Senate 
empty,  till  either  you  filled  it,  or  the  inevitable  doom  removed  you  from 
the  possibility  of  doing  it.  May  the  words  which  have  ennobled  it  go 
forth  as  thunders,  arousing  souls  now  deadened  by  the  barbarisms  of  our 
country  and  our  age ! 

"  '  Quo  bruta  tellus  et  vaga  flumina, 
Quo  Styx  et  invisi  horrida  Taenari 
Sedes,  Atlanteusque  finis 
Concutitur.'  "  1 

Rev.  Caleb  Stetson,  the  Liberal  clergyman,  and  early  foe  of  Slavery, 
wrote  from  Lexington,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  It  is  the  best  and  completest  word  that  has  yet  gone  forth  on  the  subject 
If  another  as  good  can  be  made,  it  must  be  by  yourself." 

1  Horat.  Carm  Lib.  I  xxxiv.  9-12. 


APPENDIX.  267 

Rev.  Rufus  P.  Stebbins,  the  Unitarian  divine,  wrote  from  Woburn, 
Massachusetts  :  — 

"  I  have  read  your  last  speech  in  the  Senate  on  '  The  Barbarism  of  Slav- 
ery '  with  admiration  and  gratitude.  As  a  citizen,  a  constituent,  I  thank 
you  from  my  heart's  core.  It  was  a  glorious  triumph,  such  as  no  Roman 
consul  or  general  ever  won,  to  stand  in  your  place,  after  such  a  long  ab- 
sence, for  such  a  cause,  and  through  four  long  hours  proclaim  such  holy 
truth  hi  such  distinct  language  as  was  never  before  heard  on  that  floor.  It 
is  glory  enough  for  one  life." 

Rev.  William  C.  Whitcomb,  an  earnest  clergyman  and  Abolition- 
ist, wrote  from  Lynnfield  Centre,  Massachusetts :  — 

"  A  thousand  thanks  to  you  for  your  speech  in  Congress  this  week.  'T  is 
the  most  thorough,  satisfactory,  and  powerful  speech  I  have  ever  read  on 
the  subject  of  Slavery,  or  any  subject  'T  will  secure  millions  of  readers, 
and  I  trust  open  the  eyes  of  the  nation  to  the  '  Barbarism  of  Slavery.'  Ever 
think  of  me,  and  the  people  to  whom  I  preach,  as  among  your  warmest  ad- 
mirers, lovers,  and  sympathizers." 

Rev.  David  Root,  retired  clergyman  and  Abolitionist,  wrote  from 
Cheshire,  Connecticut  :  — 

"  Though  approaching  seventy,  such  is  my  heartfelt  interest  hi  the  cause 
you  advocate,  that  I  could  cry  with  joy  over  the  thought  that  there  is  at 
least  one  member  in  Congress  who  is  able,  and  who  has  the  moral  courage, 
to  do  justice  to  that  great  enormity,  that  atrocious  wickedness,  that  deep 
and  damning  crime  of  Slaveholding.  You  seem  to  have  embraced  in  your 
speech  the  whole  subject,  in  all  its  important  departments,  and  with  a 
plainness,  directness,  pith,  force,  and  pungency  worthy  of  the  highest  com- 
mendation. It  should  be  a  permanent  and  standard  document  on  that  sub- 
ject, and  be  perpetuated  through  all  coming  time,  that  other  generations  may 

look  at  it  and  learn  to  hate  Slavery  and  love  Liberty Mind  not  what 

some  timid  croakers  may  say  about  being  ill-timed  or  calculated  to  injure 
our  Republican  campaign.  It  is  not  so.  You  have  given  us  just  the  docu- 
ment we  needed,  going  down  to  the  foundation." 

Rev.  Edgar  Buckingham,  an  early  schoolmate  of  Mr.»  Sumner, 
wrote  from  his  parish  at  Troy,  New  York  :  — 

"  I  congratulate  you  upon  the  fidelity  and  the  courage  which  you  have 
manifested;  and  though  I  do  not  rejoice  in  all  severity,  I  rejoice  always  in 
the  severity  of  truth,  and  I  trust  that  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  party 
will  unanimously  decide,  that,  not  their  expediencies,  but  God's  opportu- 
nity, is  always  the  test  of  the  tune  in  which  truth  is  to  be  spoken." 

Rev.  J.  S.  Berry  wrote  from  New  York  :  — 

"  Allow  me,  though  a  stranger,  to  thank  you  in  the  name  of  Humanity  for 


268  THE  BAEBAEISM  OF   SLAVERY. 

the  noble  speech  on  the  '  Barbarism  of  Slavery '  just  delivered  by  you  in 
the  Senate,  so  just,  so  truthful,  and  to  timely.  I  bless  God  that  he  has  so  far 
restored  you,  and  brought  you  to  '  this  hour.'  Thousands  of  hearts  thrill 
with  intense  hatred  of  Slavery,  as  they  read  your  startling  disclosures  of  its 
workings;  and  the  prayers  of  these  same  thousands,  nay,  millions,  ascend  to 
the  Father  of  us  all,  that  you  may  be  long  spared  to  show  up  the  wicked- 
ness and  inhumanity  of  the  institution.  I  rejoice  that  not  alone  on  politi- 
cal grounds  do  you  attack  the  system." 

Rev.  Daniel  Foster,  pastor,  Abolitionist,  and  pioneer  in  Kansas, 
wrote  from  the  town  of  Sumner  there  :  — 

"  I  rise  from  the  perusal  of  your  speech  on  the  '  Barbarism  of  Slavery ' 
with  such  feelings  of  affection  and  reverence  for  you  that  I  must  give  my 
feelings  and  emotion  vent  by  a  word  of  thanks  to  you.  I  was  grievously 

disappointed  in 's  speech.     Yours  fully  satisfies  me,  it  is  so  thorough, 

exhaustive,  forcible,  and  withal  so  lofty  and  noble  and  patriotic  in  its 
spirit." 

T.  D wight  Thacher,  journalist,  and  Kansas  pioneer,  wrote  from 
Lawrence  :  — 

"  Allow  me,  though  an  entire  stranger,  to  express  my  thanks  for  the  deliv- 
ery of  your  recent  great  speech  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  You 
may  rest  assured  that  the  true,  radical,  Free  State  men  of  Kansas  have  no 
kind  of  sympathy  with  those  who  are  so  solicitous  lest  that  speech  should 
have  injured  our  prospects  for  admission.  We  have  learned  the  Slave  Power 
well  enough  to  know  that  its  schemes  of  injustice  toward  us  are  not  the 
offspring  of  sudden  and  transient  excitements,  but  are  the  deep  and  well-set- 
tled purpose  of  years.  And  for  one  I  would  rather  that  we  should  remain 
out  of  the  Union  forever  than  that  a  single  utterance  in  favor  of  Freedom 
should  be  suppressed  in  the  Senate." 

H.  R.  Helper,  of  North  Carolina,  afterwards  Consul  at  Buenos 
Ayres,  author  of  the  work  entitled  "The  Impending  Crisis,"  wrote 
from  New  York  :  — 

"  I  am  in  ecstasies  with  your  speech  of  yesterday.  Every  word  is  put 
just  where  it  was  most  needed.  One  such  speech  at  intervals  of  even  four 
years  is  worth  incomparably  more  than  a  Globe  of  ordinary  debate  every 
day." 

Theodore  Til  ton,  the  eloquent  lecturer  and  journalist,  sent  this  good 
word  from  New  York  :  — 

"  I  hasten  to  offer  you  my  congratulations,  not  merely  as  a  personal 
friend,  but  as  a  citizen,  for  your  vindication  of  Liberty.  Since  the  Senate 
began  its  sessions,  no  speech  has  been  made  on  the  floor  which  has  satis- 
fied me  except  this.  I  am  glad  that  you  have  been  neither  intimidated  to 


APPENDIX.  269 

silence  nor  hallucinated  by  '  expediency '   into  speaking  only  half  the 
truth." 

Francis  H.  Upton,  lawyer,  and  author  of  the  work  on  "  The  Law  of 
Nations  affecting  Commerce  during  War,"  wrote  from  New  York  :  — 

"  Thank  God  that  you  are  yet  stanch  and  strong,  and  hi  all  things  fit  for 
the  fight  that  is  before  us.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  those  who  prate  of 
the  impolicy  of  your  present  utterance,  and  also  suggest  the  possibility  of  its 
influencing  Senators  to  obstruct  or  postpone  the  admission  of  Kansas.  It 
seems  to  me  that  he  is  but  an  ill  observer  of  the  signs  of  the  tunes,  and  has 
not  his  finger  upon  the  nation's  pulse,  who  fails  to  perceive  that  the  day  of 
soft  words  and  bated  breath  and  candy-tongued  conciliation  is  gone,  and 
gone  forever.  Slavery  has  seen  its  last  triumph,  and  henceforth  should  re- 
ceive no  quarter." 

Hon.  "William  Curtis  Noyes,  the  eminent  lawyer  and  exemplary 
citizen,  wrote  from  New  York  :  — 

"  I  thank  you  cordially  for  your  speech  on  the  '  Barbarism  of  Slavery ' ; 
and  I  thank  you  still  more  for  having  delivered  it  in  the  Senate,  where  you 
had  a  right  to  speak,  and  were  bound  to  speak  upon  that  subject  first  of  all 
upon  your  restoration  to  health.  Allow  me  also  to  congratulate  you  on 
that  event,  so  auspicious  to  yourself  and  your  country." 

Hon.  John  Bigelow,  the  able  journalist,  and  afterwards  Minister  to 
France,  wrote  from  New  York  :  — 

"  I  have  not  found  an  opportunity  until  to-day  of  reading  your  speech 
about  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery.  It  is  the  best  arranged  and  by  far  the 
most  complete  exposure  of  the  horrid  rite  of  Slavery  to  be  found  within  the 
same  compass  in  any  language,  so  far  as  known." 

Hon.  Hiram  Barney,  for  many  years  an  Abolitionist,  Collector  of 
the  Port  of  New  York  under  President  Lincoln,  wrote  from  New 
York  :  — 

"  I  was  mortified  to  see  in  some  of  our  Republican  papers  unkind  criti- 
cisms on  the  expediency  of  such  a  speech  at  this  time.  In  my  judgment 
it  is  the  best  speech  you  have  ever  made.  It  was  made  at  the  best  moment 
practicable  to  make  it,  and  it  would  havs  been  a  wrong  to  the  country  and 
the  cause  to  have  withheld  it.  Moreover,  it  was  made  by  the  right  man  in 
the  right  place.  It  is  the  most  valuable  Antislavery  document  that  I  have 


Thomas  Hicks,  the  artist,  wrote  from  New  York  :  — 

"  I  have  just  read  your  speech.    It  is  solid  with  fact,  eloquence,  and 
courage,  —  right  in  matter,  place,  and  time." 


270         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Alfred  Willard,  a  strong  Republican,  wrote  from  New  York  :  — 

"  The  South  Carolina  Senator  spoke  truly,  in  saying  your  speech  was 
'characteristic.'  It  was  so  indeed,  not  only  of  yourself,  but  glorious  old 
Massachusetts,  whose  happy  fortune  it  is  that  her  Senators  dare  speak 
boldly  for  Truth  and  Freedom.  Sir,  you  spoke  yesterday  not  for  yourself 
alone  ;  thousands,  ay,  millions,  of  American  citizens  will  sympathize  to 
their  hearts'  core  with  every  word  so  fearlessly  spoken.  As  your  speech 

was  '  characteristic,'  so  also  was  the  brief  South  Carolina  response 

Your  speech  will  serve  admirably,  not  only  as  a  powerful  and  able  argu- 
ment for  Freedom,  but  as  a  campaign  document  in  the  coming  contest." 

Professor  Charles  D.  Cleveland,  the  accomplished  teacher  and  early 
Abolitionist,  wrote  from  Philadelphia  :  — 

"Many,  many  heartfelt  thanks  to  you,  my  dear  friend,  for  your  noble 
speech.  It  takes  the  only  true  ground,  —  the  essential  barbarism  and 
sinfulness  of  Slavery.  The  few  lines  in  reply  to  the  infamous  remarks  of 
Chesnut  were  admirable,  just  the  thing,  and  I  hope  his  remarks  and  yours 
will  go  with  the  speech  in  its  pamphlet  form.  What  would  I  have  given  to 
hear  it!  " 

E.  M.  Davis,  merchant  and  constant  Abolitionist,  wrote  from  Phila- 
delphia :  — 

"  So  many  people  will  thank  you  for  your  timely,  noble,  and  courageous 
speech  that  my  thanks  will  hardly  reach  your  ear ;  yet  I  must  thank  you 
for  my  own  sake.  Our  family  here  spent  the  last  three  evenings  in  reading 
it  out  aloud,  my  son  Henry  being  the  reader,  and  you  ought  to  know  how 
sure  we  are  now  that  you  are  well,  and  how  thankful  we  are  for  it,  and  how 
much  good  this  greatest  of  all  your  efforts  will  do." 

Daniel  L.  Eaton,  journalist,  wrote  from  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania :  — 

"  You  must  permit  me,  a  perfect  stranger,  to  express  my  cordial  thanks 
to  you  for  the  noble,  scathing  speech  on  the  'sum  of  villanies'  with  which 
you  enriched  our  literature  on  Monday  last  in  the  Senate.  This  contest 
is  no  holiday  battle,  but  the  irrepressible  conflict  between  Right  and 
Wrong.  I  thank  my  God  that  he  has  spared  your  life  to  tell  the  world  that 
the  bludgeon  of  Barbarism  did  not  silence  your  tongue  nor  subdue  your 
spirit.  '  Let  the  Heathen  rage.'  Behind  you  stand  a  million  of  your  fellow- 
citizens  in  whose  hearts  your  speech  finds  an  echo.  After  reading  it 
through  with  scrupulous  care,  I  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  tell  you 
what  I  have." 

Thomas  MacConnell,  lawyer,  wrote  from  Pittsburg  :  — 

I  hold  Slavery  to  be  a  curse  and  a  disgrace  to  our  country  and  to  man- 
kind; and  I  rejoice  to  know  that  we  have  one  man  who  is  not  afraid  to  de- 
nounce it  as  such,  in  plain  Anglo-Saxon,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  and  in 
the  face  of  the  Slaveholders." 


APPENDIX.  271 

C.  B.  M.  Smith,  another  lawyer,  wrote  from  Pittsburg  :  — 

"Will  you  permit  a  private  in  the  Republican  ranks  to  thank  you  for 
your  great  speech  on  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery?  I  do  not  believe  that 
it  was  ill-timed,  or  too  severe.  It  was  just  what  the  occasion  and  the  times 
called  for." 

Rev.  N.  "Warren  Everett  wrote  from  Wilkesbarre,  Pennsylvania  :  — 

"  I  have  just  been  reading  your  masterly  and  unanswerable  speech  of  the 
fourth  instant  with  thrills  of  delight.  Massachusetts  can  afford  to  let  one  of 
her  Senatorial  chairs  remain  vacant,  if  we  can  have  such  a  speech  as  that 
once  in  four  years.  I  feel  like  thanking  God  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart 
that  you  have  been  restored  to  health,  and  have  the  nerve,  or,  as  you  once 
expressed  yourself,  the  l  backbone,'  to  stand  as  one  of  God's  noblemen  and 
give  utterance  to  truth." 

Edward  Corner  wrote  from  Columbus,  Ohio  :  — 

"  It  is  worth  its  bulk  in  gold.  I  honor  the  heart  and  give  large  credit 
to  the  head  that  combined  to  send  forth  such  a  document.  If  it  could  but 
reach  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  South  generally,  it  would  tell  upon  even  that 
dark  and  ignorant  people  ;  but  it  cannot ;  a  few  may  see  it.  There  is  not 
brass  enough,  nor  yet  iron,  nor  steel,  in  the  Southern  Senators  to  ward  off 
such  a  blow.  They  will  never  forget  it.  There  are  some  weak-kneed  Re- 
publicans who  wish  the  speech  had  been  less  severe.  I  believe  in  the  en- 
tire speech.  As  you  undertook  to  give  the  truth,  why  not  tell  the  whole 
truth  ?  It  is  time  they  were  exposed  ;  it  is  time  to  hold  up  Slavery's 
mirror,  not  only  to  the  South,  but  before  the  world." 

Alanson  St.  Clair  wrote  from  Muskegon,  Michigan  :  — 

"  And  if  my  memory  is  not  greatly  at  fault,  you  are  the  first  Member 
of  Congress  who  has  entered  the  penetralia  of  the  Pandemonium,  and  fully 
exposed  the  diabolical  character  of  the  system,  and  the  true  character  of 
its  supporters.  Such  efforts  are  telling. 

"  The  efforts  of  many  noble  patriots  have  been  manly,  self-denying,  and 
praiseworthy,  and  should  not  be  disparaged;  and  yet  I  know  of  no  one  who 
has  taken  the  high  moral  ground  on  this  subject  which  you  have  from  the 
first.  This,  during  your  whole  Senatorial  career,  has  made  you  the  hope  of 
the  reliable  Antislavery  men  hi  America;  and  your  last  effort  will  increase 
not  a  little  their  reliance  on  and  their  affection  for  you.  It  is  a  godlike 
effort,  a  stunning  blow,  a  blow  in  the  right  direction  and  upon  the  right 

spot,  which  has  inflicted  a  fearful,  if  not  a  deadly  wound I  pray  God 

that  you  may  live,  and  retain  your  place,  to  pronounce  the  funeral  oration 
of  Slavery,  and  to  receive  the  exultant  blessings  of  the  millions  to  be  set 
free." 

Nathan  C.  Meeker  wrote  from  Dongola,  Illinois  :  — 


272  THE  BARBARISM   OF   SLAVERY. 

"  Notwithstanding  what  Mr.  Greeley  sakl  as  to  its  not  being  proper  at  this 
time,  I  think  it  timely,  and  that  Mr.  Greeley  is  not  aware  of  the  great  prev- 
alence of  Antislavery  sentiment,  although  he  as  much  as  any  one  has  con- 
tributed to  create  it.  I  thank  you  for  the  bold  words,  and  also  for  the  pleas- 
ure I  have  received  in  reading  a  correct  performance,  since  there  are  so 
many  which  are  hard  for  me  to  read.  '  I  think  your  speech  will  long  be 
referred  to,  as  embracing  all  that  has  been  and  well  can  be  said  on  this 
question,  and  forever  cause  men  to  wonder  why  it  was  listened  to  in  si- 
lence." 

Horace  White,  the  able  journalist,  afterwards  editor  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune,  wrote  from  Chicago  :  — 

"  I  take  pleasure  in  saying  that  in  my  opinion  your  recent  effort  ranks 
with  Demosthenes  on  the  Crown,  and  with  Burke  on  Warren  Hastings." 

John  H.  Rolfe  wrote  from  Chicago  :  — 

"  Nobly  and  well  have  you  met  the  expectations  of  those  who,  like  my- 
self, have  waited  through  four  years  of  silence  for  your  next  utterance  on 
the  great  sin  of  our  times.  Highly  as  I  prize  the  spesch,  I  think  your  brief 
and  pointed  reply  to  Senator  Chesnut  fully  doubles  its  value,  for  all  practi- 
cal purposes." 

W.  H.  Herndon,  the  able  lawyer,  associated  in  business  with  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  wrote  from  Springfield  Illinois  :  — 

"  I  have  received  and  read  your  most  philosophic,  logical,  and  classical 
speech,  made  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  The  speech  is  a  withering 
one  to  Slavery.  It  is  worthy  of  you,  and  you  of  it.  I  thank  you  very,  very 

much  for  it We  feel  well  out  here;  are  confident  of  success.    We 

hope  the  East  will  do  as  well  as  the  West." 

S.  M.  Booth,  journalist,  who,  spurning  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act, 
helped  fugitive  slaves,  and  was  sentenced  to  imprisonment,  wrote  from. 
"  U.  S.  Custom-House  Prison  "  at  Milwaukee  :  — 

"  I  bless  God  for  the  utterance.  It  is  timely  and  needed  at  this  juncture. 
I  have  no  sympathy  with  that  craven  policy  which  would  suppress  such  a 
speech,  lest  it  might  prejudice  the  rights  of  Kansas  or  endanger  the  election 

of  Lincoln Your  portrait  of  Slavery  is  true;  its  character  and  effects 

are  all  you  describe  it;  and  the  nation  needs  to  have  its  own  sin  and  shame 
mirrored  as  you  have  done  it.  I  see,  too,  the  assassins  have  since  sought 

your  life You  have  struck  a  mighty  blow  at  the  very  existence  of 

Slavery.  You  have  laid  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the  tree.  We  never  can  reach 
the  evil  as  long  as  we  fight  on  the  defensive.  But  if  the  doctrines  of  your 
speech  are  true,  it  is  no  longer  a  question  where  or  how  far  Slavery  shall  go, 

but  whether  it  shall  be  allowed  to  go  or  to  be  anywhere In  God's  name 

let  it  perish,  and  the  sooner  the  better." 


APPENDIX.  273 

Hon.  A.  A.  Sargent,  delegate  from  California  to  the  Chicago  Con- 
vention which  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln  as  President,  and  after- 
wards Representative  in  Congress  from  California,  wrote  from  New- 
buryport,  Massachusetts :  — 

"  You  go  back  of  mere  political  distinctions  to  lay  bare  the  sin  and  bar- 
barousness  of  a  hoary  iniquity,  falsely  assuming  to  be  a  form  of  Civilization. 
You  have  taken  up  a  train  of  thought,  and  pursued  it  well,  which  I  have  long 
wished  to  have  developed,  and  filled  a  void  in  the  system  of  declared  truths 
upon  which  Republicanism  is  based,  too  long  neglected.  Your  speech 
stirred  my  heart  with  feelings  of  pride  for  the  representative  of  my  native 
State." 

Hon.  Neal  Dow,  eminent  in  the  cause  of  Temperance,  and  after- 
wards a  general  in  the  War,  wrote  from  Portland,  Maine  :  — 

"  You  will  be  glad  to  know  that  among  all  thoughtful  men  of  our  side 
your  speech  is  commended  without  a  qualification.  There  is  no  sympathy 
with  the  cowardice  of  the  mere  politicians,  in  the  fear  that  it  may  excite  the 
bad  passions  of  the  South,  and  provoke  them  to  do  some  dreadful  thing. 
I  think  the  general  wish  is  that  the  whole  truth  should  be  boldly  spoken,  and 
that  the  crisis,  whatever  it  may  be,  may  come  soon.  The  indications  now 
are  that  the  South  will  have  an  opportunity  to  make  up  its  mind  what  it 
will  do  about  it." 

John  Neal,  the  veteran  of  American  literature,  wrote  from  the  same 
city  :  — 

"  I  have  just  finished  the  reading  of  your  great  and  conclusive  speech 
upon  the  '  Barbarism  of  Slavery,'  and  I  have  only  to  say  that  I  go  with  you 
heart  and  soul,  and  that  I  concur  entirely  in  the  opinion  expressed  by  the 
venerable  Josiah  Quincy  of  your  argument. 

"  Your  manliness,  your  Christian  forbearance,  your  plainness  of  speech, 
and  your  unexaggerating  truthfulness  are  all  of  a  piece,  and  I  desire  to 
thank  you  in  the  name  of  this  whole  generation  for  what  you  have  done  and 
suffered  and  said." 

Hon.  James  S.  Pike,  also  of  Maine,  for  many  years  a  journalist, 
afterwards  Minister  of  the  United  States  at  The  Hague,  wrote  from 
Cape  May :  — 

"  I  think  you  have  got  hold  of  a  heavy  sledge,  and  hit  between  the  horns 
at  every  lick.  The  style  of  treatment  will  do  as  much  towards  bringing  the 
beast  upon  his  knees  as  any  other,  and  the  duty  is  peculiarly  appropriate 
at  your  hands.  I  am  very  sure  you  are  right,  and  feel  prompted  to  say 
so." 

Hon.  John  Appleton,  the  learned  jurist,  and  Chief  Justice  of  Maine, 
wrote  from  Bangor  :  — 
VOL.  vi.  — 18 


274         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

"  I  owe  yon  thanks  for  your  able  and  unanswerable  speech,  which  came 
in  mv  absence.  More  truth  was  never  condensed  in  one  speech.  But  woe 
to  those  by  whom  it  so  becomes  the  truth! '' 

Hon.  Hoses  Emery,  an  eminent  citizen,  wrote  from  Saco,  Maine  :  — 

"  Permit  me  to  say  I  have  read  it  through  twice,  and  parts  of  it  many 
times,  and  that  I  consider  it  the  most  glorious  and  most  needed  speech  ever 
made  in  the  United  States.  I  rejoice  that  you  have  been  spared  to  make 
it.  But  be  on  your  guard.  The  Demon  of  Slavery  will  be  revenged,  if  pos- 
sible." 

Thomas  H.  Talbot,  a  lawyer,  who  argued  well  against  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Act,  wrote  from  Portland,  Maine  :  — 

"  I  rejoice  at  your  determination  to  tell  the  whole  truth,  so  much  needed 
now,  when  many  acting  with  you  either  do  not  perceive  it  or  are  willing  to 
withhold  it,  for  reasons  of  false,  fleeting  policy.  So  far  you  seem  not  seri- 
ously to  have  been  molested ;  and  yet  that  you  have  really  achieved  free- 
dom of  speech  in  Washington  upou  that  subject,  and  to  the  extent  of  your 
speech,  seems  almost  too  much  to  hope  for  at  present." 

Hon.  Woodbury  Davis,  an  earnest  Republican,  afterwards  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Maine,  wrote  from  Portland  :  — 

"  Your  friends  here  were  alarmed  on  Sunday  evening  by  a  rumor  that  you 
had  been  attacked  again  by  Southern  ruffians.  I  felt  thankful  yesterday 
morning,  when  the  despatches  were  published,  to  learn  that  it  was  no  worse. 
I  do  not  believe  there  is  another  man  in  the  world  for  whose  personal  safety 
so  much  real  prayer  ascends  to  Heaven 

"  Allow  me,  as  one  of  the  people,  though  not  one  of  your  immediate  con- 
stituents, to  thank  you  for  your  great  speech.  In  these  times,  when  there 
is  a  tendency  to  let  down  the  great  principles  of  Universal  Liberty  in  order 
to  gain  a  temporary  triumph,  it  was  so  refreshing  to  have  them  so  nobly 
and  faithfully  advocated  In  the  great  forum  of  the  nation,  that  I  felt  truly 
grateful  to  you,  and  to  Him  who  has  preserved  you  for  such  a  service.  If 
Slavery  is  to  be  restricted,  it  is  because  of  its  own  inherent  wrong,  'whereso- 
ever and  upon  whomsoever  it  rests.  And  if  wrong,  we  are  bound  not  only 
to  resist  its  extension,  but  by  whatever  powers  we  have  to  seek  its  extinc- 
tion." 

Professor  Benjamin  Silliman,  distinguished  in  science  and  venerable 
in  years,  wrote  from  Yale  College  :  — 

"  It  is  a  terrible  indictment,  and  supported  by  such  an  array  of  facts,  that, 
having  now  gone  to  the  jury,  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  verdict,  and  a 
verdict  without  appeal,  except  to  violence,  —  against  which,  as  regards  your- 
self personally,  I  trust  you  will  exercise  a  ceaseless,  although  not  a  timid 
vigilance." 


APPENDIX.  275 

Cyrus  R.  Sanborn  wrote  from  Rochester,  New  Hampshire  :  — 

"  After  the  many  anxious  inquiries  during  your  long  absence  in  a  foreign 
land,  your  return  to  the  Senate  has  been  a  topic  of  not  much  less  interest. 
Upon  the  question  often  being  asked,  '  Shall  we  again  hear  from  Mr.  Sum- 
ner  on  the  question  of  Slavery  ? '  as  often  it  would  be  answered  either  in  the 
affirmative  or  negative.  Not  too  late,  just  at  the  time,  you  have  answered 
the  whole  question  in  your  recent  elaborate  speech.  Happy  and  delighted  are 
freemen  that  the  bludgeon  and  threats  have  not  daunted  your  courage  and 
freedom  of  speech  upon  the  great  question  of  Slavery." 

John  A.  Andrew,  afterwards  the  great  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  Among  the  numerous  congratulatory  letters  which  your  recent  brilliant 
Senatorial  effort  is  doubtless  bringing  to  you,  I  doubt  not  you  will  derive 
some  pleasure  in  being  remembered  at  No.  4,  Court  Street 

" '  The  Philosopher '  1  and  myself,  as  you  know,  always  read  you  promptly 
and  carefully.  In  this  recent  triumphant  success  I  recognize  the  '  wonted 
fires '  which  have  now  these  dozen  years  illumined  our  heavens.  And  I 
rejoice  at  the  evidence  of  confirmed  physical  vigor  which  is  assured  by 
your  encounter  of  the  fatigues  and  excitement  of  such  an  intellectual  exer- 
cise. May  you  live  a  thousand  years ! " 

Hon.  Francis  "W.  Bird,  one  of  the  ablest  and  honestest  politicians 
in  Massachusetts,  for  many  years  an  Abolitionist,  and  of  peculiar  influ- 
ence, wrote  from  East  Walpole  :  — 

"  You  do  not  need  that  I  should  thank  yon  for  your  speech.  I  confess  I 
considered  the  risk  to  your  health  and  life  so  great  that  I  hoped  you  would 
keep  silent.  But  I  thank  God  you  have  gone  through  it,  for  now  we  may 
rest  assured  your  health  is  established.  But  how  I  dreaded  the  test!  I 
rejoice  especially  that  you  have  placed  yourself  where  the  next  step  logi- 
cally is,  Slavery  has  no  rights,  no  recognition  (except  as  an  existing  fact),  and 
no  political  existence  under  the  Constitution.  Then  comes  the  end.  And 
you  are  to  be  the  leader  in  that  final  fight." 

George  L.  Stearns,  so  faithful  as  Abolitionist,  who  did  so  much  for 
the  organization  of  colored  troops  during  the  War,  wrote  from  Bos- 
ton :  — 

"  I  cannot  wait  until  I  have  finished  your  speech  to  tell  you  how  perfectly 
it  meets  my  most  sanguine  expectations.  It  is  the  morning  star  that 
heralds  the  coming  day  when  the  vile  institution  shall  only  live  in  the 
history  of  the  Past.  Your  word  will  become  the  battle-cry  in  the  coming 
conflict,  showing  that  it  is  indeed  irrepressible,  and  will  not  be  put  down, 
even  when  the  leaders  in  the  fight  fall  back  hi  terror." 

i  Hon.  Theophihis  P.  Chandler,  who  occupied  an  office  with  Mr.  Andrew. 


276         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Hon.  James  M.  Stone,  afterwards--  Speaker  of  the  Massachusetts 
House  of  Representatives,  and  a  reformer,  wrote  from  Charlestown  :  — 

"  I  am  delighted  with  your  admirable  speech  on  the  '  Barbarism  of  Slav- 
ery '  and  I  desire  to  unite  with  the  millions  of  the  freemen  of  the  country 
in  tendering  you  thanks  for  this  effort  to  arouse  the  attention  of  the  people 
to  the  terrible  evils  of  Slavery.  The  power  of  your  facts  and  logic  is  unan- 
swerable and  irresistible.  The  speech  comes  just  at  the  right  time,  too;  for 
there  was  great  danger  of  too  much  forgetfulness  of  the  great  fundamental 
principle  of  Human  Freedom,  without  which  the  Republican  party  would 
never  have  obtained  its  present  power  and  prospects  for  the  future,  and 
without  which  it  will  surely  and  speedily  go  to  destruction." 

William  I.  Bowditch,  the  well-known  conveyancer,  and  among  the 
strictest  of  Abolitionists,  wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  As  to  the  speech,  the  more  I  think  of  it,  the  heavier  I  think  the  blow 
was  which  you  have  given.  And  I  am  glad  to  find  you  yourself  again." 

Nathaniel  I.  Bowditch,  author,  as  well  as  eminent  conveyancer,  re- 
markable also  for  goodness  and  moral  principle,  wrote  from  Brook- 
line  :  — 

"  I  had  not  the  least  conception  of  the  immense  differences  effected  by 
Freedom  and  Slavery.  Your  statistics  were  truly  astonishing.  Some  of  my 
visitors,  friendly  in  the  main  to  the  Republican  cause,  have  expressed  their 
doubts  as  to  the  expediency  of  your  speech,  —  considering  that  its  effect 
must  be  to  exasperate  the  slaveholders ;  but  when  I  find  that  Bell,  nomi- 
nated by  the  Union  party,  actually  eulogized  Slavery  as  the  corner-stone  of 
the  material  prosperity  of  the  country,  I  think  that  it  is  well  that  the  true 
picture  should  be  held  up  to  their  inspection,  however  repulsive  it  may  be. 
As  in  some  homely  picture  of  the  Dutch  school,  such  as  that  of  The  Dentist 
pulling  out  a  Tootii,  the  subject  may  be  distasteful,  but  all  must  acknowl- 
edge the  skill  of  the  artist,  so  I  think  no  one  can  deny  the  thoroughness  of 
your  researches  or  the  ability  with  which  you  have  presented  their  results. 
Even  your  opponents  cannot  fail  to  acknowledge  the  manly  and  fearless  tone 
of  your  remarks." 

George  Livermore,  a  Boston  merchant,  who  loved  books,  and  was 
always  true  to  his  convictions,  wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"I  have  waited  almost  a  fortnight  since  the  first  reading  of  your  speech, 
and  have  read  rt  again  and  again,  before  saying  anything  about  it.  I  have 
heard  the  various  remarks  of  many  persons  whom  I  have  met,  and  have  read 
the  contradictory  criticisms  of  politicians,  philanthropists,  and  religionists. 
But  the  first  thoughts  and  the  first  impressions  on  reading  the  speech  have 
been  strengthened  by  reflection.  I  could  then  find  no  words  of  my  own  so 
suitable  to  express  my  views  respecting  it  as  the  words  of  the  wise  man  of 
Israel,  and  I  said  more  than  once  to  my  nearest  friends, '  Here  are  apples 


APPENDIX.  277 

of  gold  in  pictures  of  nicer.''  For  if  ever  words  were  fitly  spoken,  it  was 
when  you  so  bravely,  truly,  and  eloquently  lifted  up  your  voice  in  the  Senate, 
and  shamed  the  '  Barbarism  of  Slavery.'  I  thank  you  for  it." 

Charles  W.  Slack,  able  editor,  and  ever  earnest  against  Slavery, 
•wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  If  the  truth  must  be  suppressed,  if  every  honest  aspiration  must  be 
crushed,  if  everything  manly  and  heroic  is  to  be  tamed  down,  to  win  a 
Presidential  contest,  better  be  without  the  success,  I  say,  than  purchase 
it  at  such  a  sacrifice.  Again  I  thank  you,  over  and  over  again. 

"  Let  me  say  that  I  know  the  newspapers  don't  represent  the  current 
tone  of  the  Republicans  in  this  community,  even  where  bold  and  brave 
utterances  heretofore  have  not  been  popular." 

William  S.  Robinson,  for  many  years  Clerk  of  the  Massachusetts 
House  of  Representatives,  and  able  journalist,  who  uttered  what  he 
thought,  wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  I  suppose  that  you  are  not  disappointed  that  timid  Republicanism  in 
some  quarters  objects  to  the  time  and  occasion  of  your  speech.  Of  course 
its  real  objection  is  to  the  speech  itself.  But  I  assure  you  that  the  Anti- 
slavery  men  gladly  welcome  it.  I  regard  it  as  your  best  speech,  and  as 
calculated  to  do  immense  good." 

J.  P.  Blanchard,  clear-headed,  and  vowed  against  Slavery  and  "War, 
wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  I  need  hardly  say  that  I  share  in  the  high  admiration  and  satisfaction 
with  which  it  is  received  by  all  intelligent  persons  here,  except  those  few 
who  have  sold  their  souls  for  office,  or  who  have  not  yet  awoke  from  the 
political  sleep  of  half  a  century.  I  esteem  it  especially,  not  so  much  for  its 
great  research  and  ability,  which  were  expected,  as  because  it  discusses  the 
true  fundamental  question  of  the  wrong  as  well  as  evil  of  holding  property 
in  man,  which,  though  the  real  issue  between  the  parties,  has  hitherto  been 
too  much  slurred  over  on  both  sides." 

Seth  Webb,  Jr.,  appointed  by  President  Lincoln  Consul  at  Port-au- 
Prince,  Hayti,  a  Republican  of  the  best  quality,  and  always  Anti- 
slavery,  wrote  from  his  home  in  Scituate,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  I  have  read  it  with  care.  It  is  magnificent,  and  I  am  glad  on  every  ac- 
count that  it  was  made.  It  was  all  needed,  —  needed  now  and  from  you. 
It  not  only  expresses  my  own  opinions  fully,  but  in  it  you  have  written  on 
the  walls  of  Eternity  the  adamantine  convictions  of  Massachusetts. 

"  That  there  are  some  timeserving  and  tremulous  men  and  presses  in  our 
ranks  who  treat  the  speech  coolly  only  shows  that  Republican  leaders  do 
not  understand  Republicanism,  and  that  it  is  a  mighty  work  to  regenerate  a 
nation. 


278         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

"  The  strength  of  the  Republican  party,  lies  in  the  fearless  utterance  of  its 
opinions ;  its  weakness,  in  the  suppression  of  them.  A  timid  policy  will  be 
our  ruin ;  a  bold  one  wins  friends  and  awes  enemies." 

Hon.  Amasa  Walker,  afterwards  Representative  in  Congress,  writer 
on  Currency  and  Political  Economy,  and  enlisted  against  Slavery  and 
War,  wrote  from  his  home  at  North  Brookfield,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  I  do  think  it  excellent  and  well-timed,  just  what  you  ought  to  say,  and 
no  more,  —  but  what  no  other  man  in  the  Senate  would  have  dared  to  say." 

Hon.  Willard  Phillips,  for  many  years  Judge  of  Probate  in  Boston, 
and  author  of  the  excellent  work  on  the  Law  of  Insurance,  wrote  from 
Boston  :  — 

"  I  was  not  a  little  chagrined  and  mortified  by 's  notice  of  it,  as  I 

expressed  to  him  in  a  note  the  moment  I  had  read  his  leader  respecting  it. 
Brutality,  no  less  than  vice,  is  a  monster,  and  whoever  paints  it  fair,  or 
wishes  others  to,  by  the  false  character  he  gives  betrays  his  own  true  char- 
acter. I  have  great  faith  in  plain-spoken  truth ;  and  the  railing  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth  in  anger  by  the  Southern  preservers  of  the  Union,  and  what 
John  Randolph  denominated  as  the  white  slaves  of  the  North,  who  second 
them,  is  a  plain  confession  of  the  truth  as  you  have  spoken  it." 

Hon.  Albert  G.  Browne,  prominent  in  the  politics  of  Massachusetts, 
and  ever  foe  to  Slavery,  wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  No  poor  words  of  mine  can  convey  to  you  my  admiration  and  hearty 
approbation  of  your  speech.  I  greatly  err  in  judgment,  if  it  is  not  by  uni- 
versal consent  considered  your  best  effort  in  this  direction.  To  my  mind  it 
is  exhaustive  of  the  subject." 

Daniel  Henshaw,  a  venerable  citizen,  once  a  journalist  and  always  a 
reformer,  wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  I  have  read  your  speech  on  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery  attentively,  hav- 
ing devoted  seven  hours  thereto  yesterday,  and  I  cannot  refrain  from  offer- 
ing you  my  humble  thanks,  although  words  cannot  express  my  feelings  on 
the  subject.  You  know  something  of  my  views  on  Slavery.  For  thirty 
years  I  have  considered  it  the  leading  and  most  important  subject  before 
the  nation." 

Charles  M.  Ellis,  the  lawyer,  and  always  against  Slavery,  wrote  from 
Boston : — 

"  Especially  allow  me  to  thank  you  for  the  discourse  of  the  Barbarism  of 
Slavery;  for  it  shows  you  well  again,  and  leading  on  the  good  fight.  It  is 
needed  now,  when  men  at  the  South  seek  to  justify  the  thing,  —  needed, 
I  think,  more  than  anything, — and  leaves  little  to  be  done  in  that  direc- 
tion." 


APPENDIX.  279 

Warren  Sawyer,  a  merchant  and  active  Republican,  wrote  from 
Boston  :  — 

"  I  have  looked  over  the  newspaper  reports,  and  have  thanked  God  your 
life  was  spared  to  prepare  such  a  masterly  production,  so  full  of  facts,  so 
happily  arranged,  so  glowingly  knit  together,  and  that  you  were  able  in 
strength  to  stand  up  in  the  Senate  and  deliver  it. 

"  To  my  mind,  the  speech  will  do  much  good ;  it  was  needed.  The  great 
mass  of  the  people  have  become,  or  are  becoming,  what  is  now  called  con- 
servative on  the  Slavery  Question ;  they  forget,  amid  their  business  and  their 
many  calls,  the  horrors,  the  crime,  and  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery." 

C.  J.  Higginson,  a  merchant,  wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  said  and  written  on  Slavery,  I  think 
you  have  first  perceived  and  expressed  this  '  unconsciousness '  of  slave- 
holders; and  the  additional  fact  of  this  unconsciousness  being  nearly  as 
general  at  the  North  as  South  explains  the  necessity  of  proving  at  this  late 
day,  even  to  us  of  the  North,  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery.  We  thought  their 
wealth  and  leisure  led  them  to  be  generous ;  nobody  has  ever  so  plainly 
shown  their  accepted  necessity  of  meanness.  We  have  been  unconscious 

of  their  influence  in  lowering  our  standing I  only  wish  to  express 

my  satisfaction  at  finding  Massachusetts  again  represented  by  a  man  with 
a  constitution,  so  valuable  in  the  latitude  of  Washington,  capable  of  stand- 
ing the  burning  heat  of  the  South  and  the  chilliness  of  the  North." 

Hon.  J.  Q.  A.  Griffin,  the  lawyer  and  earnest  Republican,  too  early 
removed  from  life,  wrote  from  Charlestown  :  — 

"  I  must  thank  you  for  the  great  gratification  I  felt  in  the  perusal  of  your 
great  speech.  Twice  I  have  read  the  whole  of  it,  and  many  times  more 
various  parts.  It  is  small  praise  to  say,  what  is  here  on  all  lips,  that  it 
evinces  marvellous  scholarship,  and  embraces  a  sternly  logical  statement  of 
the  whole  question  between  Freedom  and  Slavery.  Its  amazing  courage  and 
justice  will  commend  it  yet  more  to  the  thinking  men  of  this  and  all  other 
countries." 

George  Baty  Blake,  the  banker,  wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  Its  unanswerable  arguments  will  stand  forever  as  monuments  of  manly 
effort  in  behalf  of  an  oppressed  race,  —  defending  principles,  too,  which  ought 
to  be  approved  by  every  Christian  man." 

A  practical  Republican,  very  active  in  the  party,  wrote  from  Bos- 
ton :  — 

"  I  have  read  your  splendid  speech,  and  find  that  I  cannot  express  in 
words  or  with  pen  my  admiration  of  it.  It  is  one  of  your  efforts,  the  results 
of  which  will  undoubtedly  place  our  great  party  one  more  pace  onward,  as 
in  every  case  of  the  past  you  have  done.  In  my  opinion  it  was  needed  at 


280         THE  BAKBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

this  time;  and  as  I  have  been  something^ a  prophet  in  days  past,  perhaps 
my  sanction  may  give  you  courage." 

A  considerable  number  of  constituents  at  Boston,  among  whom  were 
James  Redpath,  Richard  J.  Hinton,  arid  Loring  Moody,  friends  of  Kan- 
sas, and  Abolitionists,  forwarded  the  following  address,  signed  by 
them  :  — 

"  Jointly  and  severally,  as  men  and  as  citizens,  we  say,  God  bless  yon, 
Charles  Sumner !  Thank  God  for  one  man  whom  no  Barbarism  frightens, 
•whom  no  pusillanimous  policy  deters  from  uttering  the  truth !  Thank 
Heaven  that  in  our  modern  Sodom  one  just  man  and  fearless  was  found, 
who,  in  the  face  of  despots,  has  dared  to  plead  the  cause  of  their  victims,  and 
to  brand  their  tyranny  with  the  titles  it  has  won! 

"  Go  on,  —  with  God,  and  the  slave,  and  all  good  men  applauding  you. 
Victory  is  inevitable,  and  near  at  hand. 

"  With  gratitude  and  love  and  admiration,  your  friends,  constituents,  and 
fellow-citizens." 

Dr.  Joseph  Sargent,  the  eminent  surgeon  and  strong  Republican, 
wrote  from  Worcester,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  When  I  first  read  your  speech,  as  I  did  immediately  after  its  delivery, 
my  blood  boiled  anew,  as  after  the  outrage  which  our  country's  Barbarism 
inflicted  on  you  four  years  ago.  God  has  punished  that  crime,  in  the  per- 
sons of  its  more  immediate  perpetrators,  in  his  own  way.  Your  speech  is  the 
apt  and  condign  punishment  of  that  portion  of  the  community  who  sup- 
ported them.  In  its  learning,  its  truth,  and  its  eloquence,  it  is  worthy  of 
you;  while  in  its  comprehensiveness,  its  compactness,  and  its  completeness, 
it  has  exhausted  the  whole  subject.  If  you  never  say  a  word  more,  your 
record  will  be  right,  and  may  God  bless  you!  " 

Hon.  James  H.  Morton,  holding  a  judicial  situation,  wrote  from. 
Springfield,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  I  have  long  been  expecting  to  hear  from  you  in  your  regaining  health, 
and  my  expectation  has  been  fully  realized  in  the  noble,  scorching,  wither- 
ing expression  of  the  true  sentiment  of  Massachusetts  on  this  subject.  Would 
to  God  that  every  man  who  entertains  the  sentiments  contained  in  your 
speech,  whether  of  the  North  or  South,  had  the  moral  courage  boldly  to  ex- 
press them!  We  should  soon  see  an  end  of  that  accursed  thing,  Slavery." 

Hon.  D.  W.  Alvord,  lawyer  and  warm  Republican,  wrote  from 
Greenfield,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  I  write  to  thank  you  for  your  recent  speech.  There  is  not  elsewhere  in 
the  English  language  so  powerful  an  argument  on  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery. 
In  my  opinion  it  is  just  such  a  speech  as  you  were  bound  to  make, — just 
such  a  speech  as  the  honor  of  Massachusetts  required  from  you.  It  is  such 


APPENDIX.  281 

a  speech  as  few  men  living  but  you  could  make.    Hurt  the  Republican 
party,  will  it?    If  it  will,  then  the  party  does  not  deserve  success." 

Humphrey  Stevens,  Register  of  Deeds  for  Franklin  County,  Massa- 
chusetts, wrote  from  Greenfield  :  — 

"  I  have  just  read  your  speech  on  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery.  God  be 
praised  that  you  did  not  compromise,  and  that  the  prayers  of  the  good  have 
been  answered!  Some  Republicans  may  condemn,  but  hosts  will  rejoice 
that  you  regard  the  cause  more  than  Republicanism." 

Rev.  William  S.  Tyler,  the  learned  Greek  Professor,  wrote  from 
Amherst  :  — 

"  I  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  to  you  the  deep,  though  in  some  re- 
spects painful,  interest  with  which  I  have  read  your  late  speech  in  the 
United  States  Senate. 

"  That  your  life  has  been  spared,  your  health  in  such  a  measure  restored, 
and  that  you  were  able  to  begin '  where  you  left  off,'  and  finish  such  a  faith- 
ful und  complete  exposition  of  the  monstrous  Barbarism  —  that  is  the  word 
—  of  American  Slavery,  is  just  matter  of  congratulation  to  the  country,  and  of 
thanksgiving  to  God.  The  enemies  of  Freedom  and  Humanity  will  of  course 
gnash  their  teeth  upon  you,  and  timid  friends  will  question  the  expediency 
of  such  a  speech ;  but  when  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  hour  have 
passed  away,  it  will  be  remembered  and  honored  as  one  of  the  truest,  great- 
est, best  utterances  of  our  age." 

Hon.  Henry  Hubbard,  the  agent  of  Massachusetts  to  visit  New 
Orleans  in  behalf  of  colored  seamen  imprisoned  there,  wrote  from 
Pittsfield:  — 

"  I  cannot,  even  at  the  hazard  of  offending  you,  refrain  from  express- 
ing the  sense  of  honor  and  gratitude  I  feel  for  your  sending  me  your  immor- 
tal and  all-conquering  speech  on  the  Kansas  Question,  showing  and  proving 
the  unmitigated  atrocity  and  monstrous  deformity  of  Slavery,  maintained 
in  many  States  of  this  confederacy,  and  threatening  all  the  rest.  Boldly, 
manfully,  faithfully  yon  have  '  done  the  austere  work,'  not  letting,  by  your 
laches,  '  Freedom  fling  away  any  of  her  weapons.'  Oh,  no !  Freedom  stood 
in  all  her  majesty,  and  used  all  her  weapons." 

Henry  D.  Thoreau,  author  and  man  of  genius,  wrote  from  Con- 
cord, Massachusetts  :  — 

"  Especially  I  wish  to  thank  you  for  your  speech  on  the  Barbarism  of 
Slavery,  which  I  hope  and  suspect  commences  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
our  Congress,  when  questions  of  national  importance  have  come  to  be  con- 
sidered from  a  broadly  ethical,  and  not  from  a  narrowly  political  point  of 
view  alone.  It  is  refreshing  to  hear  some  naked  truth,  moral  or  otherwise, 
uttered  there,  which  can  always  take  care  of  itself,  when  uttered,  and  of 


282         THE  BAEBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

course  belongs  to  no  party.  (That  was"  the  whole  value  of  Gerrit  Smith's 
presence  there,  methinks,  though  he  did  go  to  bed  early.)  Whereas  this 
has  only  been  employed  occasionally  to  perfume  the  wheel-grease  of  party 
or  national  politics." 

Frank  B.  Sanborn,  teacher  and  earnest  man,  afterwards  an  able 
journalist,  wrote  from  Concord :  — 

"  Whatever  politicians  and  editors  may  say,  or  even  think,  you  have 
more  endeared  yourself  to  the  popular  heart  by  your  labors  in  the  last 
Session  than  by  all  that  you  have  previously  done.  Neither  the  North  nor 
the  South  can  soon  forget  the  faithful  picture  held  up  before  us  in  your 


Miles  Pratt,  a  business  man  and  active  Republican,  of  Watertown, 
Massachusetts,  wrote  :  — 

"  I  am  sure  I  express  the  sentiments  of  nine  tenths  of  the  Republicans  of 
this  town,  when  I  say  that  your  speech  is  received  with  joy  by  us  alL 
Strange  that  such  papers  as  the  Tribune  can  wish  that  it  had  been  made 
at  some  other  time !  We  don't  want  victory,  if  at  such  sacrifice  as  the 
Tribune  proposes.  Let  me  assure  you  that  such  sentiments  as  you  have 
uttered  are  what  keep  very  many  men  in  the  Republican  ranks." 

E.  P.  Hill,  of  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  wrote  :  — 

"  Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  delivery  of  one  of  the  most 
effective  speeches  upon  the  great  question  of  the  age  that  have  ever  been 
given  to  the  American  people.  I  rejoice  most  heartily  that  the  facts  and 
sentiments  it  contains  have  found  a  timely  utterance,  and  it  is  safe  to 
predict  for  it  a  decided  effect  upon  the  moral  sense  of  the  whole  world." 

P.  L.  Page  wrote  from  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  I  have  just  read  your  speech,  '  The  Barbarism  of  Slavery,'  and,  not- 
withstanding the  opinions  of  some  politicians,  am  glad  you  have  delivered  it 
just  as  it  is.  It  is  terrible,  but  truthful.  I  think  it  will  do  good.  While 
there  is  immense  sympathy  for  the  Republican  party,  as  a  party,  there  is 
too  little  sympathy  for  the  Slave,  and  too  little  indignation  against  that 
abominable  system  by  which  he  is  held  in  bondage.  The  tendency  of  that 
speech  is  to  show  that  it  is  not  this  or  that  measure  merely  we  have  to  con- 
tend with,  but  the  monster  Slavery." 

Andrew  L.  Russell,  an  excellent  citizen,  of  Pilgrim  stock,  and  an 
early  Abolitionist,  wrote  from  Plymouth,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  I  have  just  read  your  speech  with  great  interest,  and  thank  you  for  it. 
It  is  just  the  thing,  manly  and  conclusive.  I  hope  in  all  the  copies  of  your 
speech  Mr.  Chesnut's  beautiful  specimen  of  Southern  Chivalry  manners  will 
be  printed,  with  your  rejoinder. 


APPENDIX.  283 

"  We  mnst  be  bold  and  determined  now,  and  the  victory  is  sure.  The 
ravings  of  the  Oligarchy  show  that  they  are  wounded." 

Mrs.  Lydia  Maria  Child,  of  beautiful  genius,  and  equal  devotion  to 
the  cause,  wrote  from  Wayland,  Massachusetts  :  — 

"  I  presume  you  were  not  disappointed  that  so  many  Republican  editors 
pronounced  your  speech  injudicious,  ill-timed,  etc.  I  was  not  surprised, 
though  I  confess  I  did  expect  something  better  from  the  New  York  Evening 
Post.  Honest  utterance  generally  frightens  or  offends  the  wise  and  prudent; 
but  it  gains  the  popular  heart,  and  thus  renders  political  parties  the  great- 
est service,  though  it  is  one  they  least  know  how  to  appreciate.  They  them- 
selves are  also  carried  onward  by  such  agencies,  as  certainly  as  cars  follow 
the  engine." 


From  representative  colored  men  similar  testimony  proceeded.  That 
of  Frederick  Douglass  has  been  given  already.  Robert  Morris,  the  col- 
ored lawyer,  wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  In  behalf  of  the  colored  young  men  of  Boston,  and  following  the  dic- 
tates of  my  own  heart,  I  write  to  thank  you  for  the  speech  you  have  just 
made  in  exposition  of  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery 

"  In  battle,  when  a  bombshell  is  thrown  into  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  if  it 
creates  consternation  and  surprise,  rest  assured  it  has  been  thrown  success- 
fully, and  done  good  service.  So  your  speech,  every  word  of  which  is  truth- 
ful, fearlessly  spoken  to  the  guilty  parties  in  the  iniquitous  system  of  Slav- 
ery, was  properly  directed,  and  has  done  good  service,  as  is  fully  demon- 
strated by  the  renewed  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  Southerners  to  assault 
you  again  and  silence  your  voice." 

John  S.  Eock,  also  a  colored  lawyer,  afterwards,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Sunmer,  admitted  to  the  l>ar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  Your  immortal  speech  has  sent  a  thrill  of  joy  to  all  the  lovers  of  Freedom 
everywhere,  and  especially  so  to  the  down-trodden.  We  feel  the  value  of 
it  the  more  since  the  Republican  party  appears  determined  to  treat  us  in  the 
spirit  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision." 

J.  B.  Smith,  colored,  of  New  Bedford,  wrote  from  Boston  :  — 

"  Permit  me,  as  a  citizen  of  your  native  State,  and  especially  as  a  colored 
man,  who  has  faithfully  devoted  more  than  twenty  years  of  his  brief  life 
to  the  elevation  of  his  race,  most  sincerely  and  heartily  to  thank  you 
for  your  very  masterly  speech  in  exposition  of  the  monstrous  iniquity  of 
American  Slavery.  I  can  assure  you  that  the  gratitude  of  the  colored 
people  of  this  country  towards  you,  who  so  eminently  deserve  it,  is  incal- 
culable." 


284         THE  BARBARISM  OF  SLAVERY. 

Ebenezer  D.  Bassett,  a  colored^  professor,  afterwards  Minister  at 
Hayti,  wrote  from  Philadelphia:  — 

"  The  speech,  which  I  read  in  the  Herald,  is,  it  seems  to  me,  unequalled 
bv  anything  in  the  oratory  of  modern  times,  and  I  venture  to  predict  that 
future" ages  will  place  it,  as  a  work  of  art,  side  by  side  with  the  matchless 
De  Corona  of  Demosthenes.  It  is  certainly  beyond  all  praise." 

"William  Still,  colored,  and  with  the  natural  sentiments  of  his  race, 
wrote  from  Philadelphia  :  — 

"  In  my  humble  opinion,  you  have  so  effectually  laid  the  axe  at  the  root 
of  the  tree  that  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  who  have  been  indifferent 
or  Proslavery  will  henceforth  work  for  the  deliverance  of  the  bondman,  — 
will  labor  to  help  cut  the  tree  down.  Thus  I  am  greatly  encouraged,  and 
devoutly  hope  and  pray  for  a  better  day  for  my  race  soon." 

Robert  Purvis,  an  accomplished  gentleman,  connected  by  blood  with 
the  colored  race,  wrote  from  his  home  at  By  berry,  near  Philadelphia :  — 

"  Permit  me,  out  of  the  fulness  of  my  heart,  to  make  to  you  my  grateful 
acknowledgments  for  the  most  powerfully  effective  speech,  in  my  humble 
opinion,  against  the  '  Barbarism  of  Slavery,'  ever  made  in  this  or  any  other 
country.  Its  timeliness,  as  well  as  its  vital  power,  stirs  within  me  the  deep- 
est emotions,  which,  indeed,  are  poorly  expressed  in  subscribing  myself  as 
being  your  grateful  and  admiring  friend  and  obedient  servant." 

H.  0.  Wagoner  testifies  to  the  sentiments  of  the  colored  people  of 
Illinois,  in  a  letter  from  Chicago  :  — 

"  For  the  great  words  you  have  spoken,  and  the  ever-memorable  services 
which  you  have  just  rendered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  to  the  cause 
of  my  enslaved  and  down-trodden  fellow-countrymen,  I  return  you  not  only 
my  own  individual  heartfelt  thanks,  but  I  venture  to  speak  in  the  name  and 
in  the  behalf  of  the  seven  or  eight  thousand  colored  people  of  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois  Could  the  poor  slave  but  know  the  substance  of  that  speech, 

the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  given,  in  the  very  face  of  the  Slave 
Power,  —  I  say  could  the  slaves  be  made  to  comprehend  fully  all  this,  it 
would  thrill  their  very  souls  with  emotions  of  joy  unspeakable." 

This  collection,  which  might  be  extended,  is  concluded  with  a  voice 
from  the  Land  of  Slavery.  J.  R.  S.  Van  Vleet  wrote  from  Rich- 
mond :  — 

"  As  a  citizen  of  the  '  Old  Dominion,'  and  a  hater  of  Slavery,  I  hereby 
send  to  you  my  unqualified  approbation  of  your  manly,  bold,  eloquent,  and 
truthful  exposition  of  the  great  crime  of  our  common  country;  and  let  this 
come  to  you  as  from  the  slave-pens  of  Richmond,  in  the  midst  of  which 


APPENDIX.  285 

these  lines  are  secretly  written,  and  within  which  hundreds  of  human  hearts 
this  moment  feel  the  crushing  weight  of  the  '  Barbarism '  you  have  so 
faithfully  illustrated.  If  these  poor  slaves  were  permitted  to  give  you 
thanks,  their  dark  and  gloomy  prisons  for  once  would  be  made  vocal  with 
praise,  and  their  tears  of  sorrowing  and  bitterness  be  changed  to  tears  of 
joy. 

"  If  you  knew  the  deep  and  secret  interest  which  these  people  take  in  the 
great  battle  now  waging,  you  would  be  stimulated  in  your  efforts  to  hasten 
the  day  when  we  white  men  of  Virginia  could  unite  with  the  colored  slave  to 
celebrate  our  common  emancipation 

"  Some  of  the  Northern  Republicans  affect  to  think  that  your  speech  was 
ill-timed;  but  I  think  it  was  just  in  time,  and  not  a  moment  too  soon.  The 
Southern  party  demand  that  the  area  of  Slavery  shall  be  extended,  —  that 
the  system  shall  be  protected  by  Congressional  legislation  backed  by  the 
whole  power  of  the  Government ;  is  it  not,  therefore,  right  and  proper  that 
the  people  of  the  Free  States  should  know  what  that  system  is  which  they 
are  required  to  perpetuate  and  protect  ?  You  have  torn  off  its  mask  and 
exhibited  to  them  its  hideous  features,  and  now  let  them  say  whether  they 
will  crush  it  beneath  their  feet,  or  foster,  caress,  and  protect  it." 

William  Rabe,  Secretary  of  the  Republican  Central  Committee  of 
California,  wrote  from  San  Francisco  :  — 

"  We  have  republished  your  speech I  have  the  honor  to  hail  from 

Mr.  Chesnut's  State,  but  am  extremely  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  disagree  with 
him,  and  to  be  obliged  to  indorse  the  reasoning  of  your  speech,  notwith- 
standing, or,  in  fact,  in  consequence  of,  my  having  been  a  planter  in  South 

Carolina  for  years It  may  not  be  .for  me  to  eulogize  you  and  your 

speeches ;  but  that  you  have  'created  an  enthusiasm  and  opened  the  door 
for  free  talk  on  the  subject  of  Slavery  no  one  will  deny,  and  the  effect  has 
already  been  electric." 

From  the  press,  and  from  correspondence,  it  is  plain,  that,  whatever 
the  efforts  or  desires  of  politicians,  the  question  of  Slavery  had  reached 
a  crisis.  Nothing  touched  the  universal  heart  so  strongly,  and  the 
interest  extended  abroad.  For  years  the  South  had  been  growing  pas- 
sionate for  this  Barbarism,  and  determined  on  its  extension.  It  now 
appeared  that  in  the  North  there  was  a  passion  the  other  way.  The 
Presidential  election  turned  on  Slavery,  and  nothing  else.  The  pre- 
cise point  in  issue  was  its  limitation  by  preventing  its  spread  into  the 
Territories  ;  but  this  issue,  even  in  its  moderate  form,  involved  the 
whole  character  of  Slavery,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  Slave  Power  in  the 
National  Government. 

The  speeches  during  the  canvass  were  on  this  issue.  Politicians  were 
swept  into  the  irresistible  current.  This  appeared  in  the  pressure  upon 


286  THE   BAKBABISM   OF   SLAVEKY. 

Mr.  Sumner  to  speak.  At  the  close  of  the  session  of  Congress,  on- 
ly a  brief  period  after  his  exposure  of  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery,  on 
the  invitation  of  the  Young  Men's  Republican  Union  of  New  York, 
he  delivered  an  address  at  Cooper  Institute,  on  "  The  Origin,  Neces- 
sity, and  Permanence  of  the  Republican  Party,"  where  he  presented 
anew  the  argument  against  Slavery.  This  was  followed  by  urgent  re- 
quests to  speak  in  other  places.  Hon.  Hannibal  Hamlin,  the  Repub- 
lican candidate  for  Vice- President,  wrote  from  Maine  :  "  We  want  you 

much,  very  much Will  you  come  ?   Don't  say,  No."  Hon.  William 

P.  Fessenden,  learning  that  he  was  coming,  wrote  :  "  The  news  has  re- 
joiced all  our  hearts."  Hon.  Neal  Dow  urged  :  "  You  may  say  all  that 
is  in  your  heart,  relying  fully  upon  the  entire  sympathy  of  the  people." 
And  John  A.  Andrew,  who  was  visiting  there,  reported  :  "Your  name 
will  draw  like  a  thousand  elephants."  There  were  other  States  where 
there  was  similar  urgency.  A  private  letter  from  Thurlow  Weed,  at 
Albany,  hoping  it  would  be  in  Mr.  Sumner's  power  to  visit  New  York, 
was  followed  by  a  formal  letter  from  the  New  York  State  Republican 
Central  Committee,  pressing  him  to  address  the  electors  of  this  State, 
and  saying :  "  The  Committee  are  very  urgent  in  this  request,  and  hope 
you  will  consent  to  speak  for  us  as  much  as  possible";  and  this  was 
followed  by  a  special  appeal  from  Simeon  Draper,  Chairman  of  the  State 
Committee.  A  similar  call,  with  the  same  urgency,  came  from  Illinois, 
—  and  here  the  agents  were  Hon.  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  of  the  Repub- 
ican  Congressional  Committee  at  Washington,  and  Hon.  N.  B.  Judd, 
Chairman  of  the  Illinois  Republican  State  Committee.  In  pressing  the 
invitation,  the  latter  said:  "We  can  promise  you  such  welcome  as 
Western  Republicans  can  give  to  laborers  in  the  cause  of  Freedom  "  ; 
and  then  again,  in  another  letter  :  "The  people  expect  you,  and  know 
that  no  personal  motive  or  interest  induces  you  to  come,  —  only  a  deep 
conviction  of  the  necessity  for  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the 
triumph  of  the  principles  of  which  he  is  the  representative."  Another 
ardent  Republican  wrote  from  Chicago:  "A  glorious  reception  is 
awaiting  you." 

During  the  canvass,  Mr.  Sumner  spoke  several  times  in  Massachu- 
setts, treating  different  heads  of  the  Great  Question,  as  will  appear  in 
the  course  of  this  volume  ;  but  after  his  address  at  New  York,  he  did 
not  speak  out  of  his  own  State.  The  appeals  from  other  States  attest 
that  his  method  was  not  discarded  by  the  people.  As  the  Rebel- 
lion began  to  show  itself,  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery  was  more  and  more 
recognized. 


A  VICTORY  OF  PRINCIPLE  IN  THE  PRESIDENTIAL 
ELECTION, 

LETTER  TO  A  PUBLIC  MEETING  AT  MIDDLEBOROUGH,  MASSACHUSETTS, 
JUNE  11,  1860. 


SENATE  CHAMBER,  June  11,  1860. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  It  would  give  me  pleasure  to  mingle 
with  my  fellow-citizens  at  Middleborough  in 
pledges  of  earnest  support  to  our  candidates  recently 
nominated  at  Chicago,  but  duties  here  will  keep  me 
away. 

Be  assured,  however,  of  the  sympathy,  which  I  offer 
more  freely  because  I  find  in  the  Platform  declarations 
full  of  glorious  promise.  Our  victory  will  be  worth 
having,  only  as  it  is  a  victory  of  principle ;  but  such  a 
victory  I  expect. 

Because  I  believe  that  our  candidates  hate  the  five- 
headed  Barbarism  of  Slavery,  and  will  set  their  faces 
against  all  its  irrational  and  unconstitutional  preten- 
sions, I  am  earnest  for  their  success. 

Accept  my  thanks  for  the  honor  of  your  invitation, 
and  believe  me,  dear  Sir, 

Faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNEE. 

F.  M.  VAUGHAN,  Esq.,  Secretary,  &c.,  &c. 


REFUSAL  TO  COLORED  PERSONS  OF  RIGHT 
OF  PETITION, 

NOTES  OF  UNDELIVERED  SPEECH  IN  THE  SENATE,  ON  RESOLUTION  RE- 
FUSING TO  RECEIVE  PETITION  FROM  CITIZENS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  OF 
AFRICAN  DESCENT,  JUNE  15,  1860. 


JUNE  5,  1860,  Mr.  Sumner  presented  a  petition  of  citizens  of  Massa- 
chusetts, of  African  descent,  praying  the  Senate  to  suspend  the  labors 
of  the  Select  Committee  appointed  to  investigate  the  facts  of  the  late 
invasion  and  seizure  of  public  property  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  that  all 
persons  now  in  custody  under  the  proceedings  of  such  Committee  be 
discharged,  which  was  duly  referred  to  the  Select  Committee. 

June  15,  Mr.  Mason  submitted  a  report  from  the  Committee,  accom- 
panied by  the  following  resolution  :  — 

" Resolred,  That  the  paper  purporting  to  be  a  petition  from  'citizens  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  of  African  descent,'  presented  to  the 
Sen.ite  by  Charles  Sumner,  a  Senator  of  Massachusetts,  on  the  5th  of  June, 
instant,  and  on  his  motion  referred  to  a  Select  Committee  of  the  Senate,  be 
returned  by  the  Secretary  to  the  Senator  who  presented  it." 

This  resolution  was  never  called  up  for  consideration,  but  it  stands 
on  the  Journal  of  the  Senate  in  perpetual  testimony  of  the  assumption 
of  the  Slave  Power  and  its  tyrannical  hardihood.  Anticipating  its  dis- 
cussion, Mr.  Sumner  prepared  the  notes  of  a  speech  upon  it,  which  are 
here  preserved  precisely  as  sketched  at  the  time. 

IT  is   difficult  to  treat  this  proposition,  proceeding 
from  a  Committee  of  the    Senate,  except  as  you 
would  treat  a  direct   proposition   of  Atheism.     "The 
fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God  "  ;  hub  it 
was  only  in  his  heart;  the  fool  in  Scripture  did  not 


OF  BIGHT  OF  PETITION.  289 

openly  declare  it.  Had  he  openly  declared  it,  he  would 
have  been  in  a  position  hardly  more  offensive  than  your 
Committee. 

There  is  a  saying  of  antiquity,  which  has  the  con- 
firming voice  of  all  intervening  time,  that  "whom  the 
gods  would  destroy  they  first  make  mad"  And  now, 
Sir,  while  humbled  for  my  country  that  such  a  propo- 
sition should  be  introduced  into  the  Senate,  I  accept 
it  as  the  omen  of  that  madness  which  precedes  the  fall 
of  its  authors. 

At  this  moment  the  number  of  free  persons,  African 
by  descent,  in  the  United  States,  is  almost  half  a  mil- 
lion,—  being  a  population  two  thirds  larger  than  the 
white  population  in  South  Carolina,  more  than  one  third 
larger  than  the  white  population  in  Mississippi,  and  six 
times  larger  than  the  white  population  in  Florida.  I 
mention  these  facts  in  order  to  show  at  the  outset  the 
number  of  persons  whose  rights  are  now  assailed. 

Already,  in  several  States,  free  negroes  are  threatened 
with  expulsion,  under  the  terrible  penalty  of  being  sold 
into  Slavery.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
has  stepped  forward,  and  by  cruel  decree  declared  that 
they  are  not  citizens,  and  therefore  are  not  entitled  to 
sue  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States.  And  now,  to 
complete  their  degradation  and  exclusion  from  all  rights, 
it  is  proposed  to  declare  that  their  petitions  cannot  be 
received  by  the  Senate. 

The  right  of  petition  is  not  political,  but  personal,  — 
born  with  Humanity,  and  confirmed  by  Christianity,  — 
belonging  to  all,  but  peculiar  to  the  humble,  the  weak, 
and  the  oppressed.  It  belongs  even  to  the  criminal- 
for  it  is  simply  the  right  to  pray. 

VOL.  VI.  — 19 


290         REFUSAL  TO  COLORED  PERSONS 

There  is  no  country,  professing  civilization,  where 
this  right  is  not  sacred.  In  Mahometan  countries  it  is 
revered.  One  of  the  most  touching  stories  of  the  East 
is  where  a  petitioner  in  affliction  came  before  the  Sul- 
tan, crying  out,  — 

"  '  My  sorrow  is  my  right, 
And  I  unll  see  the  Sultan,  and  to-night.' 
'  Sorrow,'  said  Mahmoud,  '  is  a  reverend  thing; 
I  recognize  its  right,  as  king  with  king: 
Speak  on.' "  * 

To  take  this  right  away  from  any  portion  of  our 
fdlow-svJbjects  —  even  if  you  say  they  are  not  fellow- 
citizens —  will  be  barbarous.  And  when  I  consider 
under  what  influence  this  proposition  is  brought  for- 
ward, I  present  it  as  a  fresh  illustration  of  the  Barbar- 
ism of  Slavery,  —  most  barbarous  in  the  unconscious- 
ness of  its  Barbarism. 

The  outrage  is  apparent  from  a  simple  statement. 

In  all  the  States  —  even  in  the  Slave  States  —  a  free 
colored  man  may  hold  property  of  all  kinds,  personal 
or  real,  —  even  land,  in  which  citizenship  strikes  its 
strongest  root;  but  you  will  not  allow  him  the  poor 
right  of  petition. 

He  may  own  stocks  of  the  United  States,  Treasury 
notes,  and  in  other  ways  be  the  creditor  of  the  Govern- 
ment; but  you  will  not  allow  him  the  poor  right  of 
petition. 

He  is  strictly  bound  by  every  enactment  upon  our 
statute-book;  and  yet  you  will  not  allow  him  to  ap- 
pear before  you  with  a  prayer  to  modify  or  soften  this 
statute-book. 

He  is  rigidly  held  to  pay  his  quota  of  taxes;  but 
you  will  not  allow  him  to  ask  for  their  reduction. 

1  Leigh  Hunt,  Poems:  Mahmoud. 


OF  BIGHT  OF  PETITION.  291 

And  still  further,  under  all  your  pension  laws  for 
Eevolutionary  services,  and  for  services  in  other  wars, 
whether  on  land  or  sea,  he  is  entitled  to  a  pension  pre- 
cisely as  if  he  were  white ;  but  you  will  not  allow  him 
to  solicit  aid  under  these  laws. 

Such  is  a  simple  statement  of  the  injustice  you  are 
about  to  do.  On  this  statement  alone,  without  one 
word  of  argument  or  illustration,  you  will  surely  recoil. 

But  this  proposition  proceeds  on  two  assumptions, 
each  of  which  is  radically  false :  first,  that  a  free  person 
of  African  descent  is  not  a  citizen  of  the  United  States ; 
and,  secondly,  that  none  other  than  a  citizen  is  entitled 
to  petition  Congress. 

In  support  of  the  first  assumption  is  the  recent  de- 
cision of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  Dred  Scott. 
But  against  that  decision  —  so  unfortunate  for  the 
character  of  the  tribunal  from  which  it  proceeded, — 
which  has  degraded  that  tribunal  hardly  less  than  it 
sought  to  degrade  the  African  race  —  I  oppose  the  ac- 
tual fact  in  at  least  six  of  the  original  thirteen  States 
at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 

First,  in  Massachusetts,  where  the  present  petitioners 
reside,  all  persons,  without  distinction  of  color,  are  treated 
as  citizens  by  its  Constitution  adopted  in  1780. 

Secondly,  in  Virginia,  the  State  represented  by  the 
Senator  [Mr.  MASON]  who  brings  forward  this  decree 
of  disfranchisement,  the  same  principle  prevailed  at 
the  same  time.  And  here  I  call  attention  to  the  llth 
volume  of  Hening's  Virginia  Statutes,  where,  on  page 
322,  may  be  found  the  law  of  October,  1783,  which 
repeals  that  of  1779,  limiting  citizenship  to  whites, 
and  enacts,  "  that  all  free  persons  born  within  the  ter- 
ritory of  this  Commonwealth  ....  shall  be  deemed 


292         EEFUSAL  TO  COLORED  PERSONS 

citizens  of  this  Commonwealth,"  without  one  word  re- 
ferring to  descent  or  color. 

TJiirdly,  in  New  Hampshire,  whose  Constitution  con- 
ferred the  elective  franchise  upon  "  every  inhabitant  of 
the  State  having  the  proper  qualifications,"  —  of  which 
descent  or  color  was  not  one. 

Fourthly,  in  New  York,  where  the  Constitution  con- 
ferred the  elective  franchise  upon  "  every  male  inhab- 
itant of  full  age  who  shall  have  personally  resided," 
&c.,  "  if  during  the  time  aforesaid  he  shall  have  been  a 
freeholder,"  &c., — without  any  discrimination  of  descent 
or  color. 

Fifthly,  in  New  Jersey,  by  whose  Constitution  the 
elective  franchise  was  conferred  upon  "all  inhabitants 
of  this  colony,  of  full  age,  who  are  worth  fifty  pounds, 
proclamation  money,  clear  estate,"  —  also  without  any 
discrimination  of  descent  or  color. 

Sixthly,  in  North  Carolina,  where  Mr.  Justice  Gaston, 
in  delivering  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State  in  the  case  of  The  State  v.  Manuel,  declared  that 
"the  Constitution  extended  the  elective  franchise  to  ev- 
ery freeman  who  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
and  paid  a  public  tax ;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  universal 
notoriety,  that,  under  it,  free  persons,  without  regard  to 
color,  claimed  and  exercised  the  franchise,  until  it  was 
taken  from  free  men  of  color  a  few  years  since  by  our 
amended  Constitution."  * 

To  these  authoritative  precedents,  drawn  from  the 
very  epoch  of  the  National  Constitution,  I  might  add 
other  illustrations.  I  content  myself  with  referring 
to  the  Constitution  of  Missouri,  which,  in  speaking  of 
"  every  free  white  male  citizen,"  2  admits  by  implication 

1  4  Devereux  &  Battle,  20. 

8  1  Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri,  Art.  III.  Sec.  10. 


OF  RIGHT  OF  PETITION.  293 

that  colored  persons  may  be  citizens,  and  to  the  Code  of 
Alabama,  which  declares  that  certain  sections  "do  not 
apply  to  or  affect  any  free  person  of  color  who  by  the 
Treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Spain  became  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  the  descendants  of  such"  * 

But  not  only  in  six  of  the  old  thirteen  States  all  free- 
men without  distinction  of  color  were  citizens,  but  also 
under  the  Articles  of  Confederation  they  were  citizens. 
By  the  fourth  article  it  was  expressly  declared  that 
"  the  free  inhabitants  of  each  of  these  States  (paupers, 
vagabonds,  and  fugitives  from  justice  excepted)  shall  be 
entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  free  citi- 
zens in  the  several  States."  The  meaning  of  this  clause, 
which  is  clear  on  its  face,  becomes  clearer  still,  when  it 
is  known,  that,  while  it  was  under  discussion,  on  the 
25th  of  June,  1778,  the  delegates  from  South  Carolina 
moved  to  amend  it  by  inserting  between  the  words 
"  free  inhabitants  "  the  word  "  white,"  so  that  the  char- 
acter of  a  citizen  should  be  restricted  to  white  persons. 
This  proposition  was  rejected,  —  two  States  only  voting 
for  it,  eight  States  against  it,  and  the  vote  of  one  State 
being  divided ;  so  that  the  term  "  free  inhabitants  "  was 
left  in  its  full  significance,  without  any  distinction  of 
descent  or  color. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  next  followed. 
And  it  contains  not  a  sentence,  phrase,  or  word  of  dis- 
franchisement  on  account  of  descent  or  color,  any  more 
than  on  account  of  religion. 

If  the  present  question  depended  upon  citizenship, 
you  could  not  refuse  to  receive  the  petition.  But  it 
does  not  depend  upon  citizenship.  The  right  to  pe- 

1  Code  of  Alabama,  §  1037,  p.  241. 


294        BEFUSAL  TO  COLORED  PERSONS 

tition  Congress  is  not  an  incident  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise. It  exists  where  the  elective  franchise  does  not 
exist.  The  Constitution  expressly  secures  it,  not  sim- 
ply to  citizens,  but  broadly  and  completely  to  THE 
PEOPLE,  declaring,  in  the  first  article,  of  its  Amend- 
ments, that  "Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting 
an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free 
exercise  thereof,  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech 
or  of  the  press,  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to 
assemble  and  to  petition  the  Government  for  a  redress  of 
grievances" 

The  term  people  here  naturally  means  all,  without 
distinction  of  class,  who  owe  allegiance  to  the  Govern- 
ment. It  is  the  American  equivalent  for  subjects.  If 
there  were  any  doubt  on  this  point,  it  would  be  removed 
by  the  clear  and  irresistible  meaning  of  the  term  in 
other  parts  of  the  Constitution.  Thus,  in  the  clause 
constituting  the  House  of  Representatives,  it  is  declared 
that  it  "shall  be  composed  of  members  chosen  every 
second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several  States,  and  the 
electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the  qualifications  requi- 
site for  electors  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the 
State  Legislature."  Here  is  an  obvious  difference  be- 
tween the  "people"  and  "electors."  The  former  is 
broader  than  the  latter.  It  is  the  former  that  con- 
stitutes the  basis  of  representation,  and  the  Constitu- 
tion then  proceeds  to  declare  that  this  basis  "  shall  be 
determined  by  adding  to  tlie  whole  number  of  free  per- 
sons, including  those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of 
years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three  fifths  of 
all  other  persons."  Whatever  may  be  the  position  of 
the  fractional  class,  nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that  all 
free  persons,  without  distinction  of  color  or  descent,  be- 


OF  EIGHT   OF  PETITION.  295 

long  to  the  people,  and,  so  belonging,  they  are  solemnly 
and  expressly  protected  by  the  Constitution  in  the  right 
of  petition. 

The  Constitution  next  provides  for  the  "enumera- 
tion "  of  the  people,  and  under  this  provision  there  is  a 
decennial  census  of  the  whole  people,  without  distinc- 
tion of  color  or  descent ;  and  yet,  while  including  all  of 
African  descent  in  your  population,  you  refuse  to  re- 
ceive their  petitions. 

The  present  proposition  is  aggravated  by  well-attested 
facts  in  our  history.  A  colored  man,  Crispus  Attucks, 
was  the  first  martyr  of  our  Eevolutionary  struggle. 
Throughout  the  long  war  of  seven  years,  while  national 
independence  was  still  doubtful,  colored  men  fought 
sometimes  in  the  same  ranks  with  the  whites,  and  some- 
times in  separate  companies,  but  always  with  patriotic 
courage,  and  often  under  the  eye  of  Washington.  The 
blood  of  the  two  races  mingled,  and,  dying  on  the  same 
field,  they  were  buried  beneath  the  same  sod.  And  this 
same  association  was  continued  throughout  the  "War  of 
1812,  in  all  our  naval  contests,  and  especially  in  the 
Battle  of  Lake  Erie  under  Perry,  and  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain  under  Macdonough,  where  colored  men  performed 
a  conspicuous  part.  But  no  better  testimony  can  be 
presented  than  the  eloquent  proclamation  of  General 
Jackson,  before  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans,  where  he 
calls  upon  the  "  free  colored  inhabitants  of  Louisiana  " 
to  take  part  in  the  contest  as  American  soldiers,  and 
speaks  of  them  by  implication  as  "fellow-citizens."1 
"  American  soldiers  "  and  "  fellow-citizens  "  :  such  is  the 
language  of  Andrew  Jackson,  when  speaking  of  those 
whom  you  would  despoil  of  a  venerable  right. 

1  Niles's  Weekly  Begister,  Vol.  VII.  p.  205,  December  3,  1814. 


296        REFUSAL  TO  COLORED  PERSONS 

Thus,  Sir,  throughout  our  history,  you  have  used  these 
men  for  defence  of  the  country,  you  have  coined  their 
blood  into  your  own  liberties ;  but  you  deny  them  now 
the  smallest  liberty  of  all,  —  the  last  which  is  left  to  the 
miserable,  —  the  liberty  to  pray.  In  the  history  of  misfor- 
tune or  of  tyranny  nothing  can  surpass  this  final  act  of 
robbery.  The  words  of  the  classic  poet  are  fulfilled :  — 

"  '  The  wretch,  in  short,  had  nothing.'     You  say  true: 
And  yet  the  wretch  must  lose  tliat  nothing  too."  1 

There  is  a  story  of  General  Washington  which  illus- 
trates by  contrast  the  wrong  of  the  present  proposition. 
On  a  certain  occasion,  being  engaged  late  at  the  quar- 
ters of  his  aid,  Colonel  Pickering,  of  Massachusetts,  he 
proposed  to  pass  the  night,  if  the  colored  servant,  Pri- 
mus Hall,  whom  I  remember  at  Boston  in  my  child- 
hood, could  find  straw  and  a  blanket.  Of  course  they 
were  found ;  but  it  was  by  the  surrender  of  the  ser- 
vant's own  blanket.  In  the  course  of  the  night,  the  Gen- 

o        ' 

eral,  becoming  aware  of  the  sacrifice,  most  authoritative- 
ly required  the  servant  to  share  the  blanket,  saying, 
"  There  is  room  for  both,  and  I  insist  upon  it " ;  and 
on  the  same  straw,  beneath  the  same  blanket,  the  Gen- 
eral and  the  faithful  African  slept  till  morning  sun.2 
You  not  only  refuse  to  share  your  liberties  with  the 
colored  man,  but  you  now  propose  to  take  from  bim  his 
last  blanket. 

This  is  not  the  time  to  dwell  on  the  character  of  the 
colored  race  ;  for  the  right  of  petition  can  never  depend 
on  the  character  of  the  petitioner,  while  in  criminal 

1  Juvenal,  Sat.  III.,  208,  209. 

2  Anecdotes  of  Washington,   by  Rev.  Henry  F.  Harrington:    Godey's 
Lady's  Book,  June,  1849. 


OF   EIGHT  OF  PETITION.  297 

cases  liberty  and  life  even  may.  But  I  mention  two 
facts  which  speak  for  this  much  injured  people.  The 
first,  Sir,  is  the  official  census,  by  which  it  appears  that 
throughout  the  Free  States  among  the  colored  popula- 
tion a  much  larger  proportion  attend  school  than  among 
the  whites  of  the  Slave  States,  and  this  contrast  be- 
comes still  more  apparent  when  we  consider  the  small 
attendance  upon  school  by  the  whites  in  South  Caro- 
lina. The  other  fact  appears  in  the  last  will  and  tes- 
tament of  Mr.  Upshur,  of  Virginia,  Secretary  of  State 
under  President  Tyler,  where  he  thus  speaks:  — 

"  I  emancipate  and  set  free  my  servant,  David  Rich,  and 
direct  my  executors  to  give  him  one  hundred  dollars.  I 
recommend  him  in  the  strongest  manner  to  the  rfespect, 
esteem,  and  confidence  of  any  community  in  which  he  may 
happen  to  live.  He  has  been  my  slave  for  twenty-four 
years,  during  which  time  he  has  been  trusted  to  every  ex- 
tent and  in  every  respect.  My  confidence  in  him  has  been 
unbounded;  his  relation  to  myself  and  family  has  always 
been  such  as  to  afford  him  daily  opportunities  to  deceive 
and  injure  us,  and  yet  he  has  never  been  detected  in  a  seri- 
ous fault,  nor  even  in  an  intentional  breach  of  the  decorums 
of  his  station.  His  intelligence  is  of  a  high  order,  his  integ- 
rity above  all  suspicion,  and  his  sense  of  right  and  propriety 
always  correct  and  even  delicate  and  refined.  I  feel  that  he 
is  justly  entitled  to  carry  this  certificate  from  me  into  the 
new  relations  which  he  now  must  form.  It  is  due  to  his 
long  and  most  faithful  services,  and  to  the  sincere  and  steady 
friendship  which  I  bear  him.  In  the  uninterrupted  and 
confidential  intercourse  of  twenty-four  years,  I  have  never 
given  nor  had  occasion  to  give  him  an  unpleasant  word. 
I  know  no  man  who  has  fewer  faults  or  more  excellencies 
than  he.  A.  P.  UPSHUR."  1 

1  Nell,  Services  of  Colored  Americans  in  the  Wars  of  1776  and  1812, 
pp.  23,  24. 


298         REFUSAL  TO  COLORED  PERSONS 

I  do  not  dwell  on  precedents ;  for  Senators  willing 
to  entertain  this  proposition  can  have  little  regard  for 
any  precedents  in  favor  of  Human  Eights.  I  content 
myself  with  saying,  that  never  before  has  this  assault 
on  Human  Eights  been  made,  —  that  petitions  from  col- 
ored persons  have  been  often  presented  and  refused, 
precisely  as  other  petitions.  Here,  for  example,  is  an 
instance  on  the  Journals  of  the  Senate  :  — 

"  Mr.  Seward  presented  a  petition  of  citizens  of  Ontario 
County,  New  York,  praying  that  the  army  may  be  dis- 
banded, and  its  services  hereafter  dispensed  with  ;  a  petition 
of  male  and  female  colored  inhabitants  of  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
praying  that  colored  men  may  be  employed  in  transporting 
the  mails,  and  enrolled  in  the  militia ;  and  a  petition  of  male 
and  female  colored  inhabitants  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  pro- 
testing against  the  enactment  of  a  law  for  the  recovery  of 
fugitive  slaves."  * 

But  I  have  said  enough.  Most  earnestly  and  sincere- 
ly do  I  protest  against  this  attempt,  on  three  grounds : 
first,  because,  being  essentially  barbarous  in  character, 
it  must  be  utterly  shameful  to  a  government  boasting 
Christianity  and  professing  Civilization ;  secondly,  because 
it  is  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  constitutional  rights  of 
more  than  half  a  million  of  American  people  ;  and, 
thirdly,  because,  in  the  present  case,  it  is  an  insult  to 
the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  where  these  pe- 
titioners reside  in  the  free  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights 
of  citizens,  —  among  others,  of  voting  for  Members  of 
Congress.  I  am  unwilling  to  weaken  this  argument  for 
Human  Eights  by  any  appeal  to  State  Rights;  but  I 
cannot  fail  to  observe  that  this  proposition,  which  tram- 
ples down  State  Eights  in  order  to  assail  Human  Eights, 

1  Senate  Journal,  31st  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  p.  313,  April  30,  1850. 


OF  RIGHT  OF  PETITION.  299 

proceeds   from   a   Senator   [Mr.    MASON]   who   always 
avows  himself  the  defender  of  State  Eights. 

For  myself,  Sir,  my  course  is  plain.  Whatever  may 
be  the  action  of  the  Senate,  I  shall  continue  to  present 
such  petitions.  And  permit  me  to  say,  that  I  should 
be  little  worthy  of  the  place  I  now  hold,  if,  at  any  time 
hereafter,  receiving  such  petitions,  I  hesitate  in  the  dis- 
charge of  this  sacred  duty. 


THE  LATE  HONORABLE  JOHN  SCHWAETZ, 
OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 

SPEECH  IN  THE  SENATE,  ON  THE  RESOLUTIONS  IN  TRIBUTE  TO  HIM, 
JUNE  21,  1860. 


ME.  PKESIDENT,  —  Some  men  make  themselves 
felt  at  once  by  their  simple  presence,  and  Mr. 
Schwartz  was  of  this  number.  No  person  could  set 
eyes  on  him  without  being  moved  to  inquire  who  he 
was,  or,  if  the  occasion  presented,  to  form  his  acquaint- 
ance. His  look  was  that  of  goodness,  and  he  acted  in  a 
way  to  confirm  the  charm  of  his  appearance.  Entering 
tardily  into  public  life,  he  followed  the  prompting  of 
duty,  and  not  of  ambition.  At  this  call  he  severed 
friendships,  personal  and  political,  believing  that  prin- 
ciple was  of  higher  worth  than  party  or  politician  or 
President.  Thus,  when  already  reverend  with  age,  he 
became  a  representative  in  Congress. 

His  presence  in  the  other  House  was  a  protest.  All 
who  saw  him  there  knew  that  he  came  from  a  con- 
stituency which  had  always  been  represented  by  an 
unhesitating  member  of  the  Democratic  party,  while 
he  openly  denounced  that  party  *  and  associated  him- 
self cordially  and  completely  with  those  who,  founding 
themselves  on  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the 

i  Mr.  Schwartz  was  of  Berks  County,  and  had  been  a  Democrat  all  his 
lifp,  until  he  felt  constrained  on  the  Lecompton  Question  to  take  ground 
agiiinst  his  old  party. 


/  THE  LATE  HON.  JOHN  SCHWARTZ.  301 

Constitution,  sought  to  bring  the  National  Government 
to  the  ancient  ways.  I  mention  this  circumstance, 
because  it  is  an  essential  part  of  his  too  brief  public 
life,  while  it  illustrates  his  character,  and  proclaims 
his  title  to  honor.  The  powerful  party  leader,  "with 
a  Senate  at  his  heels,"  is  less  worthy  of  love  and  con- 
sideration than  the  simple  citizen,  who,  scorning  party 
ties,  dares  to  be  true  and  just. 

But  never  did  man,  who  had  broken  down  a  party  at 
home,  and  taken  his  seat  as  representative  of  Oppo- 
sition, wear  his  signal  success  more  gently.  Though 
decided  and  firm  in  conduct,  he  was  winning  and  sweet 
in  manner,  and  by  beautiful  example  showed  how  to 
unite  two  qualities  which  are  not  always  found  together. 
"Winter  was  not  sterner,  summer  was  not  softer. 

In  character  he  did  honor  to  the  brave  and  pure 
German  stock,  which,  even  from  that  early  day  when 
first  revealed  to  history  in  the  sharp  and  clean-cut 
style  of  Tacitus,  has  preserved  its  original  peculiarities 
untouched  by  change,  showing,  that,  though  the  indi- 
vidual is  mortal,  the  race  is  immortal  American  by 
birth,  and  American  in  a  generous  patriotism,  he  was 
German  in  his  clear  blue  eye,  in  his  physical  frame,  in 
the  warmth  of  his  affections,  and  in  the  simplicity  of 
his  life.  To  him  alone  our  tribute  is  now  due  ;  but,  in 
pronouncing  the  name  of  JOHN  SCHWARTZ,  we  cannot 
forget  the  "  fatherland "  of  his  ancestors,  which  out  of 
its  abundance  has  given  to  our  Kepublic  so  many  good 
heads,  so  many  strong  arms,  with  so  much  of  virtue  and 
intelligence,  rejoicing  in  freedom,  and  calling  no  man 
master. 


UNHESITATING  ASSERTION  OF  OUR  PRINCIPLES. 

LETTER  TO  THE  KEPUBLICANS  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY, 
JUNE  27,  1860. 


AN  enthusiastic  meeting  of  the  Old  Men's  and  Young  Men's  Repub- 
lican Central  Committees  of  the  City  of  New  York  was  held  on  the 
evening  of  June  28,  for  the  purpose  of  extending  a  welcome  to  the  Re- 
publican Senators  of  the  Eastern  States,  on  their  return  from  Congress. 
D.  D.  Conover,  of  the  Old  Men's  Committee,  presided,  assisted  by 
Charles  S.  Spencer,  of  the  Young  Men's  Committee.  The  following  let- 
ter from  Mr.  Sumner,  in  answer  to  an  invitation,  was  read  by  Edgar 
Ketchum. 

SENATE  CHAMBER,  June  27,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  must  renounce  the  opportu- 
nity of  meeting  the  Eepublicans  of  New  York  to- 
morrow evening,  asking  them  to  accept  my  thanks  for 
the  invitation  with  which  they  have  honored  me. 

Let  me  congratulate  them  on  the  good  omens  which 
cheer  us  on  every  side. 

It  only  remains,  that,  by  unhesitating  assertion  of  our 
principles,  we  continue  to  deserve  victory. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir, 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNEB. 

EDGAR  KETCHUM,  Esq. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY: 

ITS  ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PERMANENCE. 

SPEECH  BEFORE  THE  YOUNG  MEN'S  REPUBLICAN  UNION  OF 
YOBK,  AT  COOPEB  INSTITUTE,  JULY  11,  1860. 


THIS  early  speech  in  the  Presidential  campaign  which  ended  in  the 
election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  made  by  Mr.  Sumner  while  on  his 
way  home  from  Washington.  It  was  reported  and  noticed  by  the  New 
York  press.  A  journal  having  little,  sympathy  with  it  describes  the 
magnificence  and  enthusiasm  of  the  auditory,  and  thus  abridges  the 
speech  in  flaming  capitals:  "The  Presidential  Contest  ;  Great  Con- 
vulsion in  the  Republican  Camp  ;  Charles  Sumner  on  the  Stump  ;  A 
Strong  Plea  for  Old  Abe ;  Another  Attack  upon  Slaveholders ;  The 
Fivefold  Wrong  of  Human  Slavery." 

The  meeting  is  mentioned  in  all  the  journals  as  one  of  the  largest  ever 
assembled  within  the  walls  of  Cooper  Institute,  and  also  remarkable 
for  respectability  of  appearance.  One  of  them  says  it  seemed  more  like 
an  audience  of  some  great  concert  or  festival  than  a  political  meeting. 
As  soon  as  the  doors  were  opened  every  available  position  was  occupied, 
and  in  half  an  hour  afterwards  it  was  impossible  to  find  accommoda- 
tion. More  than  one  third  of  the  vast  hall  had  been  reserved  for  ladies, 
and  it  was  completely  filled.  The  windows  of  the  upper  floor  opening 
upon  the  basement  were  crammed  with  people.  On  the  stage  were 
many  distinguished  persons,  judges  and  ex-judges.  The  welcome  of 
the  speaker  is  thus  noticed  by  another :  — 

"Mr.  Sumner  appeared  on  the  rostrum  precisely  at  eight  o'clock,  and 
was  received  with  an  outburst  of  excited  enthusiasm  which  defies  all  de- 
scription. The  applause  was  unanimous  and  intense.  Cheer  after  cheer 
arose,  loud  and  vociferous;  men  stood  up  and  waved  their  handkerchiefs 
and  their  hats  till  scarcely  anything  else  could  be  seen." 

The  scene  at  this  time  was  chronicled  by  the  Independent. 
"  The  orator's  return  to  the  people,  after  his  long  and  enforced  retirement 
from  the  platform,  was  celebrated  at  Cooper  Institute  with  such  a  welcome 


304  THE   REPUBLICAN  PARTY: 

as  we  have  rarely  seen  given  to  any  man.  On  coming  forward,  he  was 
greeted  with  cheer  after  cheer,  the  audience  rising  and  prolonging  their 
salutations  through  many  minutes,  with  continuous  shouting  and  waving  of 
handkerchiefs." 

Mr.  Rogers,  the  President  of  the  Young  Men's  Republican  Union, 
nominated  for  chairman  of  the  meeting  Hon.  Abijah  Mann,  Jr.,  which 
nomination  was  unanimously  accepted.  Mr.  Mann,  on  taking  the 
chair,  said  that  they  had  now  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  one  who  had 
stood  up  manfully  for  freedom  of  speech,  not  only  against  open  foes, 
but  even  against  the  opposition  of  some  of  his  colleagues.  [Applause.] 
He  was  here  to-night  to  maintain  this  same  right  to  free  speech,  and 
to  express  his  views  of  the  political  condition  of  the  country.  It  gave 
him  pleasure  to  introduce  to  the  audience  Hon.  Charles  Sumner,  of 
Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Sumner,  on  taking  the  stand,  was  again  greeted  with  loud  and 
prolonged  cheers.  After  tendering  acknowledgments  for  the  gener- 
ous and  cordial  reception,  and  regretting  his  inability  to  express  all 
he  felt,  he  proceeded  with  his  speech,  which  was  thus  described  by 
the  Evening  Post :  — 

"  Mr.  Sumner  was  as  happy  in  the  manner  as  he  was  forcible  in  the  mat- 
ter of  his  speech.  His  commanding  person,  his  distinct  utterance,  and  his 
graceful  elocution  combined  with  the  eloquence  of  his  words  in  keeping  the 
immense  auditory  to  their  seats  for  two  hours,  without  a  movement,  and 
almost  without  a  breath,  save  when  the  applause  broke  forth.  It  is  the  first 
time  that  Mr.  Sumner  has  spoken  in  public  since  he  was  laid  low  in  the 
Senate  House,  and  New  York,  by  this  grand  demonstration,  has  shown  its 
eagerness  to  welcome  him  to  the  field  of  so  many  former  triumphs." 

In  this  speech  Mr.  Sumner  sought  to  popularize  his  argument  in  the 
Senate  on  the  Barbarism  of  Slavery,  with  an  application  to  the  Presi- 
dential election,  and  at  the  same  time  to  reassert  the  positions  he  had 
there  taken.  Its  influence  was  increased  by  the  circulation  it  enjoyed. 
Besides  the  Tribune,  Times,  Herald,  and  World,  which  printed  it  in 
full,  there  was  a  pamphlet  edition  of  more  than  fifty  thousand  copies 
circulated  by  the  Young  Men's  Republican  Union.  The  Secretary  of 
the  Republican  Central  Committee  of  California  wrote,  that  this  Com- 
mittee, after  publishing  a  large  edition  of  the  "  Barbarism  of  Slavery," 
published  ten  thousand  copies  of  the  New  York  speech,  which  was 
"  read  with  that  attention  which  the  subject  elucidated  by  you  readily 
commands."  Among  letters  with  regard  to  it,  two  are  preserved  as 
friendly  voices. 

Hon.  W.  H.  Seward  wrote  from  Auburn  :  — 

"  Your  speech,  in  every  part,  is  noble  and  great.  Even  you  never  spoke  so 
well." 


ITS   ORIGIN,   NECESSITY,  AND   PERMANENCE.          305 

Another  friend,  who  had  not  agreed  with  Mr.  Sumner  at  an  earlier 
period,  George  Livermore,  the  intelligent  merchant  of  Boston,  devoted 
to  books  as  well  as  business,  being  in  New  York  at  the  time,  heard  the 
speech,  and,  in  a  letter  dated  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  wrote  :  — 

"  I  can  say  in  all  sincerity,  that,  of  all  the  political  addresses  I  have  ever 
heard,  —  and  for  thirty  years  past  I  have  heard  a  great  many,  and  from  the 
most  distinguished  men  in  the  country,  —  I  have  never  listened  to  one  that 
would  begin  to  compare  with  this  as  a  whole.  The  high  and  broad  ground 
on  which  you  based  your  views,  the  clearness  and  force  with  which  you 
presented  the  subject,  the  dignity  and  grace  of  your  manner,  and  the  honest 
and  hearty  tone  in  which  you  uttered  your  thoughts,  all  together  make  your 
speech  the  best  one  that  was  ever  delivered,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience go." 

These  testimonies  will  at  least  explain  the  effect  of  this  speech  at  the 
time. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  NEW  YORK  :  — 

OF  all  men  in  our  history,  there  are  two  whose 
influence  at  this  moment  is  peculiar.  Though 
dead,  they  yet  live,  speak,  and  act  in-  the  conflict  of 
principle  which  divides  the  country,  —  standing  face 
to  face,  like  two  well-matched  champions.  When  I  add 
that  one  was  from  South  Carolina  and  the  other  from 
Massachusetts,  you  cannot  fail  to  see  that  I  mean 
John  C.  Calhoun  and  John  Quincy  Adams. 

Statesmen,  both,  of  long  career,  marked  ability,  and 
unblemished  integrity,  —  acting  together  at  first,  —  sit- 
ting in  the  same  Cabinet,  from  which  they  passed,  one 
to  become  Vice-President,  and  the  other  President, — 
then,  for  the  remainder  of  their  days,  battling  in  Con- 
gress, and  dying  there, —  each  was  a  leader  in  life,  but 
each  is  now  in  death  a  greater  leader  still. 

Mr.  Calhoun  possessed  an  intellect  of  much  origi- 
nality and  boldness,  and,  though  wanting  the  culture  of 
a  scholar,  made  himself  felt  in  council  and  in  debate. 
To  native  powers  unlike,  but  not  inferior,  Mr.  Adams 

VOL.  VI.  —  20 


306  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY: 

added  the  well-ripened  fruits  of  long  experience  in  for- 
ei<m  lands  and  of  studies  more  various  and  complete  than 
those  of  any  other  public  man  in  our  history,  besides 
an  indomitable  will,  and  that  spirit  of  freedom  which 
inspired  his  father,  when,  in  the  Continental  Congress, 
he  so  eloquently  maintained  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, making  himself  its  Colossus  on  that  floor. 

Sitting  together  in  the  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Monroe,  they 
concurred  in  sanctioning  the  Missouri  Prohibition  of 
Slavery  as  constitutional,  and  so  advised  the  President. 
But  here  divergence  probably  began,  though  for  a  long 
time  not  made  manifest.  The  diary  of  Mr.  Adams 
shows  that  at  that  early  day,  when  Slavery  had  been 
little  discussed,  he  saw  its  enormity  with  instinctive 
quickness,  and  described  it  with  corresponding  force. 
The  record  is  less  full  with  regard  to  Mr.  Calhoun ;  but 
when  they  reappeared,  one  in  the  Senate,  and  the  other 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  each  openly  assumed 
the  position  by  which  he  will  be  known  in  history,  — 
one  as  chief  in  all  the  pretensions  of  Slavery  and  Slave- 
Masters,  the  other  as  champion  of  Freedom. 

Mr.  Calhoun  regarded  Slavery  as  a  permanent  insti- 
tution ;  Mr.  Adams  regarded  it  as  something  transitory. 
Mr.  Calhoun  vaunted  it  as  a  form  of  civilization ;  Mr. 
Adams  scorned  it  as  an  unquestionable  barbarism.  Mr. 
Calhoun  did  not  hesitate  to  call  it  the  most  stable  basis 
of  free  government ;  Mr.  Adams  vehemently  denounced 
it  as  a  curse,  full  of  weakness  and  mockery,  doubly  of- 
fensive in  a  boastful  Republic.  Mr.  Calhoun,  not  con- 
tent with  exalting  Slavery,  proceeded  to  condemn  the 
early  opinions  of  "Washington  and  Jefferson  as  "folly 
and  delusion,"  to  assail  the  self-evident  truths  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  as  "absurd,"  and  then  to 


ITS   ORIGIN,   NECESSITY,   AND   PERMANENCE.  307 

proclaim  that  human  beings  are  "  property "  under  the 
Constitution,  and,  as  such,  may  be  transported  into 
the  Territories  and  there  held  in  Slavery;  while  Mr. 
Adams  added  to  the  glory  of  his  long  and  diversified 
career  by  persistent  efforts  which  are  better  for  his 
fame  than  having  been  President,  —  upholding  the  great 
rights  of  petition  and  of  speech,  —  vindicating  the  early 
opinions  of  the  Fathers,  and  the  self-evident  truths  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  —  exposing  the  odious 
character  of  Slavery,  —  insisting  upon  its  prohibition  in 
the  Territories,  —  denying  the  asserted  property  in  man, 
—  and  especially,  and  often,  exhibiting  the  unjust  power 
in  the  National  Government  usurped  by  what  he  called 
"  the  little  cluster "  of  Slave-Masters,  whose  yoke  was 
to  him  intolerable. 

Such,  most  briefly  told,  were  antagonist  opinions  of 
these  two  chiefs.  Never  was  great  conflict  destined  to 
involve  a  great  country  more  distinctly  foreshadowed. 
All  that  the  Eepublican  party  now  opposes  may  be 
found  in  John  C.  Calhoun;  all  that  the  Eepublican 
party  now  maintains  may  be  found  in  John  Quincy 
Adams.  Choose  ye,  fellow-citizens,  between  the  two. 

The  rule  of  "Principles  and  not  Men"  is  hardly 
applicable  to  a  man  whose  name,  bearing  the  sacred 
seal  of  death,  has  become  the  synonym  of  Principle ;  yet 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  our  cause  is  best  appre- 
ciated in  its  precise  objects  and  aims.  Proud  as  we 
are  to  tread  where  John  Quincy  Adams  leads  the  way, 
there  is  a  guide  of  more  commanding  authority  —  found 
in  the  eternal  law  of  Eight,  and  the  concurring  mandate 
of  the  Constitution  itself,  when  properly  interpreted  — 
that  teaches  the  duties  of  a  good  citizen.  Such  is  the 
guide  of  the  Eepublican  party,  which,  I  say  fearlessly, 


308  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY: 

where  most  known,  will  be  most  trusted,  and,  when 
understood  in  its  origin,  will  be  seen  to  be  no  accidental 
or  fugitive  organization,  merely  for  an  election,  but  an 
irresistible  necessity,  which  in  the  nature  of  things  must 
be  permanent  as  the  pretensions,  moral  and  political, 
which  it  seeks  to  constrain  and  counteract. 

All  must  admit,  too,  that,  if  no  Eepublican  party  ex- 
isted now,  —  even  if  that  halcyon  day  had  come,  so  of- 
ten promised  by  cajoling  politicians,  when  the  Slavery 
Question  was  settled,  —  still  there  would  be  a  political 
necessity  for  a  great  party  of  Opposition  to  act  as  check 
on  the  Administration.  A  kindred  necessity  was  once 
expressed  by  an  eminent  British  statesman,  who  gave 
as  a  toast,  "  A  strong  Administration  and  a  strong  Op- 
position." Parties  are  unknown  in  despotic  countries. 
They  belong  to  the  machinery  of  free  governments. 
Through  parties  public  opinion  is  concentrated  and  di- 
rected ;  through  parties  principles  are  maintained  above 
men ;  and  through  parties  men  in  power  are  held  to  a 
just  responsibility.  If  ever  there  was  occasion  for  such 
a  party,  it  is  now,  when  the  corruptions  of  the  Adminis- 
tration are  dragged  to  light  by  Committees  of  Congress. 
On  this  ground  alone  good  men  might  be  summoned  to 
rescue  the  government  of  our  country. 

It  is  an  attested  fact  that  Mr.  Buchanan  became 
President  through  corruption.  Money,  familiarly  known 
as  a  "  corruption  fund,"  first  distilled  in  small  drip- 
pings from  clerks  and  petty  officials,  was  swollen  by 
larger  contributions  of  merchants  and  contractors,  and 
with  this  accumulation  votes  were  purchased  in  Phil- 
adelphia, enough  to  turn  the  election  in  that  great  me- 
tropolis, and  in  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect  to  assure 


ITS   ORIGIN,   NECESSITY,   AND  PERMANENCE.         309 

the  triumph  of  the  Democratic  candidate.  I  speak  now 
only  what  is  proved.  Fraudulent  naturalization  papers 
in  blank,  by  which  this  was  perpetrated,  were  produced 
before  a  Committee  of  Congress.  It  was  natural  that  an 
Administration  thus  corrupt  in  origin  should  continue 
to  exercise  power  through  the  same  corruption  by  which 
power  was  gained ;  but  nothing  else  than  that  insensi- 
bility to  acts  of  shame  produced  by  familiarity  can  ex- 
plain how  all  this  has  been  done  with  such  absolute 
indecency  of  exposure,  so  as  to  recall  the  words  of  the 
poet,  — 

"  How  use  doth  breed  a  habit  in  a  man ! " 

A  letter  from  a  local  politician,  addressed  to  the  Pres- 
ident himself,  urging  without  disguise  the  giving  of  a 
large  contract  for  machinery  to  a  particular  house  in 
Philadelphia,  employing  four  hundred  and  fifty  mechan- 
ics, with  a  view  to  the  approaching  election,  was  sent 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  with  this  indorsement,  in 
a  well-known  handwriting,  signed  by  well-known  ini- 
tials :  "  Sept.  15, 1858.  The  enclosed  letter  from  Colonel 
Patterson,  of  Philadelphia,  is  submitted  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  J.  B."  Thus  did  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  formal  written  words, 
now  of  record  in  the  history  of  the  country,  recommend 
the  employment  of  the  public  money,  set  apart  for  the 
public  service,  to  influence  an  election.  Here  was 
criminality  as  positive  as  when  his  supporters  pur- 
chased votes  in  the  streets.  From  one  learn  all;  and 
from  such  a  characteristic  instance  learn  the  character 
of  the  Administration.  But  there  are  other  well-known 
instances ;  and  the  testimony  before  the  Congressional 
Committees  discloses  the  President  on  Sundays  in  se- 
cret conclave  with  one  of  his  corrupt  agents,  piously 


310  THE  REPUBLICAN   PARTY: 

occupied  discussing  the  chances  of  an  election,  and  how 
its  expenses  were  to  be  met,  while,  at  the  same  time, 
like  another  Joseph  Surface,  he  was  uttering  in  public 
"  fine  sentiments  "  of  political  morality,  and  lamenting 
the  prevalence  of  the  very  indecencies  in  which  he  was 
engaged. 

It  was  natural  that  a  President,  who,  with  professions 
of  purity  on  the  lips,  made  himself  the  pander  of  such 
vulgar  corruption,  should  stick  at  nothing  needful  to 
carry  his  purposes.  I  shall  not  dwell  on  the  Lecomp- 
ton  Constitution ;  but  it  belongs  to  this  chapter.  You 
all  know  its  wickedness.  Concocted  originally  at  Wash- 
ington, with  the  single  purpose  of  fastening  Slavery  up- 
on the  people  of  Kansas,  it  was  by  execrable  contriv- 
ance so  arranged  as  to  prevent  the  people,  when  about 
to  become  a  State,  from  voting  on  that  question.  Next 
sanctioned  by  a  convention  of  usurpers,  who  in  no  re- 
spect represented  the  people  of  Kansas,  then  fraudu- 
lently submitted  to  the  people  for  their  votes,  it  was 
fraudulently  adopted  by  stuffing  ballot-boxes  on  a  scale 
never  before  known.  Thus,  at  the  Delaware  Crossing, 
where  there  were  but  forty-three  legal  voters,  four 
hundred  were  returned;  at  Oxford,  where  there  were 
but  forty-two  legal  voters,  a  thousand  were  returned; 
and  at  Shawnee,  where  there  were  but  forty  legal 
voters,  twelve  hundred  were  returned.  And  yet  this 
Constitution,  disowned  by  the  very  Governor  who  had 
gone  to  Kansas  as  agent  of  the  President,  —  rotten 
with  corruption,  gaping  with  falsehood,  and  steaming 
with  iniquity,  —  was  at  once  recognized  by  the  Presi- 
dent, urged  upon  Congress  in  a  special  message,  and 
pressed  for  adoption  by  all  the  appliances  of  unprinci- 
pled power.  If  the  words  of  Jugurtha,  turning  his  back 


ITS  ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND   PERMANENCE.         311 

upon  Eome,  cannot  be  repeated,  that  the  Republic  is  for 
sale,  and  soon  to  perish,  if  it  shall  find  a  purchaser,1  nor 
the  sharper  saying  of  Walpole,  that  every  man  has  his 
price,  it  was  not  from  any  forbearance  in  the  President. 
A  single  editor  was  offered  the  printing  of  Post-OflB.ce 
blanks  worth  at  least  eighty  thousand  dollars,  if  by  an 
article  no  larger  than  a  man's  hand  he  would  show 
submission  to  the  Administration.  Bribes  of  office  were 
added  to  bribes  of  money.  As  the  votes  of  electors 
had  been  purchased  to  make  Mr.  Buchanan  President, 
the  votes  of  Representatives  were  now  solicited  to  carry 
out  his  scheme  of  corruption,  and  the  Halls  of  Congress 
were  changed  into  a  political  market-house,  where  men 
were  bought  by  the  head.  Is  not  all  this  enough  to 
arouse  the  indignation  of  the  people  ? 

It  is  true  that  the  President,  whose  power  began 
in  corruption,  and  who  is  responsible  author  of  the 
corruption  by  which  his  administration  has  been  de- 
based, is  no  longer  a  candidate  for  office.  Already 
judgment  begins.  His  own  political  party  discards 
him.  The  first  avenging  blow  is  struck.  Incorrupt- 
ible history  will  do  the  rest.  The  tablet  conspicuously 
erected  in  Genoa  to  expose  the  crimes  of  certain  Doges, 
branding  one  as  Fur  Magnus  and  another  as  Maximus 
Latronum,  will  not  be  needed  here.  The  exposed  cor- 
rupter,  the  tyrant  enslaver,  and  the  robber  of  Human 
Freedom  cannot  be  forgotten.  Unhappy  President ! 
after  a  long  career  of  public  service,  not  only  tossed 
aside,  but  tossed  over  to  perpetual  memory  as  an  ex- 
ample to  be  shunned!  Better  for  him  the  oblivion  of 
common  life  than  the  bad  fame  he  has  won ! 

1  "  Urbem  venalem  et  mature  perituram,  si  emtorem  invenerit."  —  Sal- 
lust,  Jugurtha,  c.  35. 


312  THE   REPUBLICAN   PARTY: 

But,  though  not  himself  a  candidate  for  office,  his 
peculiar  supporters,  animated  by  his  spirit,  linked  with 
him  in  misrule,  are  embodied  as  a  party,  and  ask  your 
votes.  Simply  to  resist  this  combination,  and  to  save 
the  Kepublic  from  its  degrading  influence,  would  justify 
the  formation  of  the  Eepublican  party ;  and  I  doubt  not 
that  there  are  many  who  will  be  content  to  unite  with 
us  on  this  ground  alone,  anxious  to  put  the  National 
Government  once  again  in  pure  hands.  To  all  such, 
welcome ! 

While  this  consummation  necessarily  enters  into  the 
present  purposes  of  the  Eepublican  party,  while  we 
naturally  begin  by  insisting  upon  purity  in  the  Govern- 
ment, and  make  this  one  of  our  urgent  demands,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  quickening  impulse  of  the  party  is  to 
be  found  in  other  purposes,  which  cannot  pass  away  in 
a  single  election.  The  Eepublican  party  seeks  to  over- 
throw the  Slave  Oligarchy  in  the  National  Government, 
and  especially  at  this  moment  to  stay  its  aggressions  in 
the  Territories,  which,  through  a  corrupt  interpretation 
of  the  Constitution,  it  threatens  to  barbarize  with  Slav- 
ery. But  all  who  seek  purity  in  the  National  Govern- 
ment must  unite  in  this  purpose  ;  for  only  by  the  over- 
throw of  this  base  Oligarchy,  which,  beginning  in  the 
denial  of  all  human  rights,  necessarily  shows  itself  in 
barbarism  and  villany  of  all  kinds,  can  a  better  order 
prevail.  It  is  out  of  Slavery  that  all  our  griefs  proceed ; 
nor  can  the  offences  of  the  present  Administration  be 
fully  comprehended  without  considering  the  nature  of 
this  Evil,  and  its  chronic  influence  over  our  Govern- 
ment, reaching  everywhere  by  subtle  agencies,  or  more 
subtle,  far-reaching  example,  but  still  in  itself  the  orig- 
inal and  all-sufficient  activity.  As  well  attempt  to 


ITS   ORIGIN,   NECESSITY,   AND   PERMANENCE.         313 

explain  the  Gulf  Stream  without  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
or  the  Origin  of  Evil  without  the  human  heart,  as  at- 
tempt to  explain  the  present  degraded  character  of  the 
National  Government  without  Slavery.  As  well  at- 
tempt the  play  of  "Othello "  without  the  Moor.  And 
permit  me  to  say  that  our  warfare  with  these  iniquities 
will  be  feeble,  unless  we  attack  them  in  their  origin. 

At  the  beginning  of  our  history  Slavery  was  univer- 
sally admitted  to  be  an  Evil  Nobody  then  so  hardy  as 
to  vindicate  it.  In  the  Convention  which  framed  the 
Constitution  it  was  branded  as  "a  nefarious  institu- 
tion/' or  more  mildly  called  "  wrong "  ;  and  these  gen- 
erous voices  came  from  the  South  as  well  as  from  the 
North.  Out  of  the  Convention  there  was  a  similar 
accord.  I  shall  not  quote  the  words  of  Washington, 
Jefferson,  Franklin,  or  Jay,  for  they  are  familiar  to 
all.  Even  as  they  spoke  others  spoke,  and  I  might 
occupy  the  whole  evening  simply  reciting  this  testi- 
mony. Nor  were  these  declarations  confined  to  pub- 
lic life.  The  Colleges  all,  by  definite  action,  arrayed 
themselves  against  Slavery,  especially  the  University 
of  William  and  Mary,  in  Virginia,  which  conferred  up- 
on Granville  Sharp,  the  acknowledged  chief  of  Brit- 
ish Abolitionists,  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws.  The  Literature  of  the  land,  such  as  it  was, 
agreed  with  the  Colleges.  The  Church,  too,  added  its 
powerful  voice;  and  here,  amid  diversities  of  religious 
faith,  we  hail  that  unity  of  spirit  which  animated  all. 
Quakers,  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  and  Congregational- 
ists  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in  this  pious  testi- 
mony. 

The  Constitution  was  adopted,  but  the  word  Slave 


314  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY: 

was  not  allowed  to  pollute  its  text ;  and  this  was  in  de- 
clared deference  to  the  prevailing  opinion,  which  re- 
garded Slavery  as  temporary,  destined  soon  to  pass 
away.  All  looked  to  the  glad  day  as  almost  at  hand. 
In  harmony  with  this  expectation,  Slavery  was  pro- 
hibited in  all  existing  territories  of  the  Union,  so  that, 
when  Washington,  as  first  President  of  the  United 
States,  at  his  inauguration  here  in  New  York  took  his 
first  oath  to  support  the  Constitution,  the  flag  of  the 
Kepublic  nowhere  on  the  land  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
Congress  covered  a  single  slave.  Little  then  did  the 
Fathers  dream  that  the  Evil  which  they  regarded  with 
shame  and  exerted  themselves  to  prohibit  would  ele- 
vate its  obscene  crest  as  it  now  does,  and  flaunt  its  mon- 
strous pretensions  before  the  world.  Little  did  they 
dream  that  the  Constitution,  from  which  they  had  care- 
fully excluded  the  very  word,  would  be  held,  in  defiance 
of  reason  and  common  sense,  to  protect  the  thing,  so 
exceptionally  that  it  could  not  be  reached  by  Congres- 
sional prohibition,  even  within  Congressional  jurisdic- 
tion. Little  did  they  dream  that  the  text,  which  they 
left  so  pure  and  healthful,  would,  through  corrupt  inter- 
pretation, be  swollen  into  such  an  offensive  Elephanti- 
asis. 

Two  circumstances,  civilizing  in  themselves,  exercised 
an  unexpected  influence  for  American  Slavery :  first,  the 
abolition  of  the  slave-trade,  which  by  taking  away  the 
supply  increased  the  value  of  slaves  ;  and,  secondly,  the 
increased  cultivation  of  cotton,  stimulated  by  the  inven- 
tion of  new  machinery.  The  latter  has  been  of  especial 
moment.  Indeed,  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  out 
of  this  slender  cotton  fibre  are  formed  the  manacles 
of  the  slave.  Thus,  through  sinister  activity,  and  the 


ITS  OBIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PEBMANENCE.         315 

wickedness  of  men,  is  good  made  the  minister  of  wrong. 
Next  after  Christopher  Columbus,  who  by  sublime 
enterprise  opened  a  pathway  to  the  New  World,  Eli 
Whitney,  who  discovered  the  cotton  gin,  has  been  indi- 
rectly and  unconsciously  a  chief  agent  in  the  bondage 
of  the  African  race  on  the  North  American  continent ; 
and  surely  proper  gratitude  for  the  advantages  we  en- 
joy in  such  large  store  from  these  two  discoveries  must 
prompt  us  to  increased  activity  for  the  welfare  of  those 
who,  alas  !  have  been  such  losers,  where  we  have  been 
such  gainers. 

The  change  of  opinion,  so  disastrous  in  result,  was 
gradual  Though  in  its  successive  stages  easily  de- 
tected by  the  careful  inquirer,  it  did  not  become  mani- 
fest to  the  whole  country  till  1820,  when  it  burst  forth 
in  the  Missouri  Question.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  Slav- 
ery showed  itself  openly  violent,  insolent,  belligerent. 
Freedom  was  checked,  but  saved  something  by  a  com- 
promise, —  announced,  at  the  moment  of  its  adoption, 
by  Charles  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  as  a  triumph  of 
the  South,  —  where,  in  consideration  of  the  admission 
of  Missouri  as  a  Slave  State,  thus  securing  additional 
preponderance  to  the  Slave  Power,  it  was  stipulated 
that  Slavery  should  be  prohibited  in  certain  outlying 
territory,  at  that  time  trodden  only  by  savages.  Then 
came  a  lull,  during  which  the  change  was  still  at  work, 
until,  contemporaneously  with  the  abolition  of  Slavery 
in  the  British  West  Indies,  the  discussion  was  lighted 
anew.  Meanwhile  slaves  augmented  in  price,  and  slave- 
masters  became  more  decided.  In  timid  deference  to 
the  world,  they  at  first  ventured  no  defence  of  Slavery 
in  the  abstract;  but  at  last,  bolder  grown  under  the 
lead  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  they  threw  aside  all  reserve,  openly 


316  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY: 

assailed  the  opinions  of  the  Fathers,  audaciously  denied 
the  self-evident  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, and  by  formal  resolution  asserted  the  new  dogma 
of  Slavery  in  the  Territories.  This  was  as  late  as  1847. 
A  letter  of  that  day,  from  Mr.  Calhoun,  addressed  to  a 
member  of  the  Alabama  Legislature,  shows  that  there 
was  an  element  of  policy  in  this  exaggeration.  His  de- 
sire was  "  to  force  the  Slavery  issue  "  on  the  North,  be- 
lieving that  delay  was  dangerous,  as  the  Slave-Masters 
were  then  relatively  stronger,  both  morally  and  politi- 
cally, than  they  would  ever  be  again. 

At  last  the  end  has  come.  Slavery  is  openly  pro- 
nounced, at  one  time,  the  black  marble  keystone  of  our 
National  Arch,  —  at  another  time,  the  corner-stone  of 
our  Republican  edifice ;  then  it  is  vaunted  as  the 
highest  type  of  civilization,  —  then  as  a  blessing  to  the 
master  as  well  as  the  slave,  —  and  then  again  as  en- 
nobling to  the  master,  if  not  to  the  slave.  It  is  only 
the  first  step  which  costs,  and  therefore  the  authors  of 
these  opinions,  so  shocking  to  the  moral  sense,  do  not 
hesitate  at  other  opinions  equally  shocking  to  the  rea- 
son, even  to  the  extent  of  finding  impossible  sanctions 
for  Slavery  in  the  Constitution.  Listening  to  these  ex- 
travagances, who  would  not  exclaim,  with  Ben  Jonson 
in  the  play  ?  — 

"  Grave  fathers,  he  's  possessed;  again  I  say, 
Possessed :  nay,  if  there  be  possession  and 
Obsession,  he  has  both."  1 

And  now,  fellow-citizens,  what  is  Slavery  ?  This  is 
no  question  of  curiosity  or  philanthropy  merely;  for 
when  the  National  Government,  which  you  and  I  at 
the  North  help  to  constitute,  is  degraded  to  be  its  in- 

l  The  Fox,  Act  V.  sc.  8. 


ITS  OBIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PEKMANENCE.         317 

strument,  and  all  the  National  Territories  are  pro- 
claimed open  to  its  Barbarism,  and  the  Constitution 
itself  is  perverted  to  its  support,  the  whole  subject 
naturally,  logically,  and  necessarily  enters  into  our  dis- 
cussion. It  cannot  be  avoided;  it  cannot  be  blinked 
out  of  sight.  Nay,  you  must  pass  upon  it  by  your 
votes  at  the  coming  election.  Futile  is  the  plea  that 
we  at  the  North  have  nothing  to  do  with  Slavery. 
Granted  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  it  in  the 
States,  we  have  much  to  do  with  all  its  irrational  as- 
sumptions under  the  Constitution,  and  just  so  long  as 
these  are  urged  must  Slavery  be  discussed.  It  must 
be  laid  bare  in  its  enormity,  precisely  as  though  it  were 
proposed  to  plant  it  here  in  the  streets  of  New  York. 
Nor  can  such  a  wrong  —  foul  in  itself,  and  fouler  still 
in  pretensions  —  be  dealt  with  tamely.  Tameness  is 
surrender.  And  charity,  too,  may  be  misapplied.  For- 
giving those  who  trespass  against  us,  I  know  not  if  we 
are  called  to  forgive  those  who  trespass  against  others,  — 
to  forgive  those  who  trespass  against  the  Republic,  —  to 
forgive  those  who  trespass  against  Civilization,  —  to  for- 
give those  who  trespass  against  a  whole  race, — to  for- 
give those  who  trespass  against  the  universal  Human 
Family,  —  finally,  to  forgive  those  who  trespass  against 
God.  Such  trespassers  exist  among  us,  possessing  the 
organization  of  party,  holding  the  control  of  the  National 
Government,  constituting  a  colossal  Power,  and 

"  what  seems  its  head 
The  likeness  of  a  President  has  on." 

Surely,  if  ever  there  was  a  moment  when  every  fac- 
ulty should  be  bent  to  the  service,  and  all  invigorated 
by  an  inspiring  zeal,  it  is  now,  while  the  battle  between 
Civilization  and  Barbarism  is  still  undecided,  and  you 


318  THE  KEFUBLICAN  PARTY: 

are  summoned  to  resist  the  last  desperate  shock.  To 
this  work  I  am  not  equal ;  but  I  do  not  shrink  from  the 
duties  of  my  post.  Alas !  human  language  is  gentle, 
and  the  human  voice  is  weak.  Words  only  are  mine, 
when  I  ought  to  command  thunderbolts.  Voice  only 
is  mine,  when,  like  the  ancient  Athenian,  I  ought  to 
carry  the  weapons  of  Zeus  on  the  tongue.  Nor  would  I 
transcend  any  just  rule  of  moderation,  or  urge  this  war- 
fare too  far  among  persons.  Humbly  do  I  recognize 
the  authority  of  Him,  who,  when  reviled,  reviled  not 
again;  but  this  divine  example  teaches  me  to  expose 
crime,  and  not  to  hesitate,  though  the  Scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, chief-priests  and  money-changers,  cry  out.  And  it 
shows  how  words  of  invective  may  come  from  lips  of 
peace.  "Woe  unto  you,  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypo- 
crites !  for  ye  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  one  prose- 
lyte, and  when  he  is  made,  ye  make  him  twofold  more 
the  child  of  hell  than  yourselves."  Thus  spake  the 
Saviour  in  Jerusalem;  and  he  still  speaks,  not  in  Je- 
rusalem only,  but  wherever  men  are  won  from  truth, 
wherever  crime  exists  to  be  exposed  and  denounced. 

What,  then,  I  repeat,  is  Slavery  ?  The  occasion  for- 
bids detail ;  but  enough  must  be  presented  to  place 
this  outrage  in  its  true  light,  —  as  something  worse  even 
than  a  constant  state  of  war,  where  the  master  is  con- 
stant aggressor.  Here  I  put  aside  for  the  moment  all 
the  tales  which  reach  us  from  the  house  of  bondage,  — 
all  the  cumulative,  crushing  testimony,  from  slaves  and 
masters  alike,  —  all  the  barbarous  incidents  which  help 
to  arouse  a  yet  too  feeble  indignation,  —  in  short,  all  the 
glimpses  which  come  to  us  from  this  mighty  Blue- 
beard's chamber.  All  these  I  put  aside,  not  because 
they  are  of  little  moment  in  exhibiting  the  true  char- 


ITS   ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PEKMANENCE.         319 

acter  of  Slavery,  but  because  I  desire  to  arraign  Slavery 
on  grounds  above  all  controversy,  impeachment,  or  sus- 
picion, even  from  Slave-Masters  themselves.  Not  on 
wonderful  story,  where  the  genius  of  woman  has  pre- 
vailed, not  even  on  indisputable  facts,  do  I  now  accuse 
Slavery,  but  on  its  character  as  revealed  in  its  own 
simple  definition  of  itself.  Out  of  its  own  mouth  do  I 
condemn  it. 

By  the  Law  of  Slavery,  man,  created  in  the  image  of 
God,  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,  with  sensibilities 
of  pleasure  and  pain,  with  sentiments  of  love,  with 
aspirations  for  improvement,  with  a  sense  of  property, 
and  with  a  soul  like  ourselves,  is  despoiled  of  his  hu- 
man character,  and  declared  to  be  a  mere  chattel,  "  to  all 
intents,  constructions,  and  purposes  whatsoever."  I  do 
not  stop  to  give  at  length  all  its  odious  words ;  you  are 
doubtless  familiar  with  them.  The  heathen  idea  of 
Aristotle  is  repeated,  —  "a  tool  with  a  soul."  J  But  in 
this  simple  definition  is  contained  the  whole  incalcula- 
ble wrong  of  Slavery ;  for  out  of  it,  as  from  an  inex- 
haustible fountain,  are  derived  all  the  unrighteous  pre- 
rogatives of  the  master.  These  are  five  in  number,  and 
I  know  not  which  is  most  revolting. 

First,  there  is  the  pretension  that  man  can  hold  prop- 
erty in  man,  —  forgetful,  that,  by  a  law  older  than  all 
human  law,  foremost  stands  the  indefeasible  right  of 
every  man  to  himself. 

Secondly,  the  absolute  nullification  of  the  relation  of 
husband  and  wife,  so  that  all  who  are  called  slaves  are 
delivered  over  to  concubinage  or  prostitution,  it  may  be 
with  each  other,  or  it  may  be  with  their  masters  ;  but 
with  whomsoever  it  may  be,  it  is  the  same,  for  with 

l  Politics,  Book  I.  ch.  4. 


320  THE   REPUBLICAN  PAETY  : 

slaves  marriage  is  impossible,  as  they  are  merely 
"  coupled,"  never  married. 

Thirdly,  ilie  utter  rejection  of  the  relation  of  parent 
and  child;  for  the-  infant  legally  belongs,  not  to  the 
mother  who  bore  it,  but  to  the  master  who  bought  it. 

Fourthly,  the  complete  denial  of  instruction ;  for  the 
master  may  always,  at  his  own  rude  discretion,  prevent 
his  victim  from  learning  to  read,  and  thus  shut  against 
him  those  gates  of  knowledge  which  open  such  vistas 
on  earth  and  in  heaven. 

Fifthly,  the  wholesale  robbery  of  the  labor  of  another, 
and  of  all  its  fruits,  —  forgetful,  that,  by  the  same  origi- 
nal law  under  which  every  man  has  a  title  to  himself, 
he  has  also  a  title  to  the  fruits  of  his  own  labor, 
amounting  in  itself  to  a  sacred  property,  which  no  per- 
son, howsoever  called,  whether  despot  or  master,  can 
righteously  appropriate. 

Such  are  the  five  essential  elements  of  Slavery. 
Look  at  them,  and  you  will  confess  that  this  institution 
stands  forth  as  a  hateful  assemblage  of  unquestionable 
wrongs  under  sanction  of  existing  law.  Take  away 
any  one  of  these,  and  just  to  that  extent  Slavery 
ceases  to  exist.  Take  away  all,  and  the  Slavery  Ques- 
tion will  be  settled.  But  this  assemblage  becomes  more 
hateful  still,  when  its  unmistakable  single  motive  is 
detected,  which  is  simply  to  compel  labor  without  'wages. 
Incredible  as  it  may  be,  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  right  of  a  man  to  himself,  the  right  of  a  hus- 
band to  his  wife,  the  right  of  a  parent  to  his  child, 
the  right  of  a  man  to  instruction,  the  right  of  a  man  to 
the  fruits  of  his  own  labor,  all  these  supreme  rights, 
by  the  side  of  which  other  rights  seem  petty,  are  tram- 
pled down  in  order  to  organize  tliat  five-headed  selfish- 


ITS  ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PERMANENCE.        321 

ness,  practically  maintained  by  the  lash,  which,  look 
at  it  as  you  will,  has  for  its  single  object  COMPUL- 
SOKY  LABOR  WITHOUT  WAGES. 

Obviously  and  unquestionably  the  good  of  all  is 
against  such  a  system ;  nor,  except  for  the  pretended 
property  of  the  master,  and  his  selfish  interest,  could 
there  be  any  color  for  it.  That  Slavery  thus  consti- 
tuted can  be  good  for  the  master  is  one  of  the  hal- 
lucinations of  the  system,  —  something  like  the  hallu- 
cination of  the  opium-eater.  Fascinating,  possibly,  it 
may  be  for  a  time,  but  debasing  and  destructive  it  must 
be  in  the  end.  "  I  agree  with  Mr.  Boswell,"  said  Dr. 
Johnson,  "that  there  must  be  high  satisfaction  in 
being  a  feudal  lord";  but  the  moralist  did  not  con- 
sider this  a  good  reason  for  such  a  power  at  the  ex- 
pense of  others.1  That  Slave-Masters  should  be  violent 
and  tyrannical,  that  they  should  be  regardless  of  all 
rights,  especially  where  Slavery  is  concerned,  and  that 
the  higher  virtues  of  character  should  fail  in  them,  — 
all  this  might  be  inferred,  even  in  the  absence  of  evi- 
dence, according  to  irresistible  law  of  cause  and  effect. 
"No  man  can  do  injustice  with  impunity.  He  may  not 
suffer  in  worldly  condition,  but  he  must  suffer  in  his 
own  nature.  And  the  very  unconsciousness  in  which 
he  lives  aggravates  the  unhappy  influence.  Nor  can 
familiarity  with  Slavery  fail  to  harden  the  heart. 
•  Persons  become  accustomed  to  scenes  of  brutality, 
till  they  witness  them  with  indifference.  Hogarth,  that 
master  of  human  nature,  portrayed  this  tendency  in  his 
picture  of  a  dissection  at  a  medical  college,  where  the 
president  maintains  the  dignity  of  insensibility  over  a 

i  Boswell,  Life  of  Johnson,  April  6,  1772,  ed.  Croker   (London,  1835,) 
Vol.  III.  p.  212. 

VOL.  VI. — 21 


322  THE  REPUBLICAN   PARTY: 

corpse,  which  he  regards  simply  as  the  subject  of  a  lec- 
ture. And  Horace  Walpole,  who  admired  the  satire 
of  this  picture,  finds  in  it  illustration  of  the  idea, 
that  "the  legal  habitude  of  viewing  shocking  scenes 
hardens  the  human  mind,  and  renders  it  unfeeling."1 
This  simple  truth,  in  its  most  general  application,  ex- 
hibits the  condition  of  the  Slave-Master.  How  can  he 
show  sensibility  for  the  common  rights  of  fellow-citi- 
zens who  sacrifices  daily  the  most  sacred  rights  of  oth- 
ers merely  to  secure  labor  witliout  wages  ?  With  him  a 
false  standard  is  necessarily  established,  bringing  with 
it  a  blunted  moral  sense  and  clouded  perceptions,  so 
that,  when  he  does  something  intrinsically  barbarous  or 
mean,  he  does  not  blush  at  the  recital. 

Here,  again,  I  forbear  all  detail.  The  reason  of  the 
intellect  blending  with  the  reason  of  the  heart,  the 
testimony  of  history  fortified  by  the  testimony  of  good 
men,  an  array  of  unerring  figures  linked  with  an  array 
of  unerring  facts,  —  these  all  I  might  employ.  And  I 
might  proceed  to  show  how  this  barbarous  influence, 
beginning  on  the  plantation,  diffuses  itself  throughout 
society,  enters  into  official  conduct,  and  even  mounts 
into  Congress,  where  for  a  long  time  it  has  exercised 
a  vulgar  domination,  trampling  not  only  on  all  the 
amenities  of  debate,  but  absolutely  on  Parliamentary 
Law.  I  shall  not  open  this  chapter. 

There  is  one  frightful  circumstance,  unhappily  of 
frequent  occurrence,  which  proclaims  so  clearly  the 
character  of  the  social  system  bred  by  Slavery,  that  I 
shall  be  pardoned  for  adducing  it.  I  refer  to  the  roast- 
ing of  slaves  alive  at  the  stake.  One  was  roasted  very 
recently,  —  not  after  public  trial,  according  to  the  forms 

1  Anecdotes  of  Painting  in  England :  Hogarth,  p.  723. 


ITS   ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PERMANENCE.         323 

of  law,  as  at  the  fires  of  Smithfield,  but  by  a  law- 
less crowd,  suddenly  assembled,  who  in  this  way  made 
themselves  ministers  of  a  cruel  vengeance.  This  Bar- 
barism, which  seems  to  have  become  part  of  the  cus- 
tomary Law  of  Slavery,  may  well  cover  us  all  with  hu- 
miliation, when  we  reflect  that  it  is  already  renounced 
by  the  copper-colored  savages  of  our  continent,  while 
during  the  present  century  more  instances  of  it  have 
occurred  among  our  Slave-Masters  than  we  know  among 
the  former  since  that  early  day  when  Captain  Smith 
was  saved  from  sacrifice  by  the  tenderness  of  Poca- 
hontas.  Perhaps  no  other  usage  reveals  with  such  fear- 
ful distinctness  the  deep-seated,  pervading  influence  of 
Slavery,  offensive  to  Civilization,  hostile  to  Law  itself, 
by  virtue  of  which  it  pretends  to  live,  insulting  to  hu- 
manity, shocking  to  decency,  and  utterly  heedless  of  all 
rights,  forms,  or  observances,  in  the  maintenance  of  its 
wicked  power.  Here  I  add,  that  the  proportion  of  slave 
to  free  is  not  without  influence  in  determining  treat- 
ment. Fear  is  a  constant  tyrant,  with  an  inhumanity 
which  does  not  tire  or  sleep,  and  nothing  can  quicken 
its  cruelty  more  than  the  dread  of  vengeance  for  the 
multitudinous  wrong  done  to  the  slave. 

I  would  not  be  unjust  to  Slave-Masters.  Some  there 
are,  I  doubt  not,  of  happy  natures,  uncorrupted  by  the 
possession  of  tyrannical  power,  who  render  the  condi- 
tion of  their  slaves  endurable,  and  in  private  virtues 
emulate  the  graces  of  Civilization;  but  the  good  in 
these  cases  comes  from  the  masters,  notwithstanding 
Slavery.  And,  besides,  there  are  the  great  examples 
of  the  Fathers,  who,  looking  down  upon  Slavery  and  re- 
garding it  as  an  Evil,  were  saved  from  its  contamina- 
tion. To  all  these  I  render  heartfelt  homage.  But  their 


324  THE   KEPUBLICAN  PAETY  : 

exceptional  virtues  cannot  save  the  essential  wrong 
which  I  expose.  Nor  am  I  blinded  by  the  blandish- 
ments of  that  wealth  which  is  the  fruit  of  Slavery. 
With  abhorrence  we  read  of  the  scandalous  man-traffic 
by  which  a  Hessian  prince  of  Germany  sold  his  sub- 
jects to  be  used  by  George  the  Third  against  our  fa- 
thers ;  and  we  share  the  contempt  expressed  by  Fred- 
erick, surnamed  the  Great,  when  he  levied  on  these  vic- 
tims, passing  through  his  dominions,  the  customary  toll 
for  so  many  head  of  cattle,  since,  as  he  said,  they  had 
been  sold  as  such  ;  and  even  now  the  traveller  turns 
with  disgust  from  the  pleasant  slopes  of  the  ducal  gar- 
den which  was  adorned  by  these  unholy  gains.1  But 
all  this,  and  more,  must  be  renewed  in  our  minds,  when 
we  think  of  American  Slavery,  with  the  houses  and  gar- 
dens decorated  by  its  sweat. 

Such,  fellow-citizens,  is  Slavery,  as  manifest  in  its 
law,  and  also  in  its  influence  on  society.  Bad  as  it  is, 
if  it  modestly  kept  at  home,  if  it  did  not  stalk  into 
the  National  jurisdiction  and  enter  into  the  National 
Government,  within  reach  of  our  votes,  I  should  not 
summon  you  on  this  occasion  to  unite  against  it ;  for, 
whatever  the  promptings  of  sympathy  and  of  godlike 
philanthropy,  nothing  is  clearer  than  that  our  political 
duties  depend  simply  upon  our  political  responsibil- 
ities ;  and  since  we  are  not  politically  responsible  for 
Slavery  in  Charleston,  or  in  Constantinople,  so  in  nei- 
ther place  have  we  any  political  duties  in  regard  to  it. 
Lament  it,  wherever  it  exists,  we  must,  and  surround 
its  victims  with  our  prayers ;  but  our  action,  while  in- 

1  Here  was  the  prison  of  the  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon,  after  his  defeat  and 
surrender  at  Sedan,  September  1,  1870. 


ITS   ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PERMANENCE.         325 

spired  by  these  sentiments,  must  rest  within  the  bounds 
of  Law  and  Constitution. 

Here  the  field  is  ample.  Indeed,  if  Slavery  exist- 
ed nowhere  within  the  national  jurisdiction,  our  duty 
would  still  be  urgent  to  grapple  with  that  pernicious 
influence,  which,  through  an  Oligarchical  Combination 
of  Slave-Masters,  unknown  to  the  Constitution,  never 
anticipated  by  its  founders,  and  in  defiance  of  their 
example,  has  entered  into  and  possessed  the  National 
Government,  like  an  Evil  Spirit.  This  influence,  which, 
wielding  at  will  all  the  powers  of  the  National  Gov- 
ernment, even  those  of  the  Judiciary,  has  become  for- 
midable to  Freedom  everywhere,  clutching  violently  at 
the  Territories,  and  menacing  the  Free  States,  —  as 
witness  the  claim,  still  undecided  in  the  court  of  the 
last  resort,  so  audaciously  presented  by  a  citizen  of 
Virginia,  to  hold  slaves  in  New  York  on  the  way  to 
Texas;  this  influence,  now  so  vaulting,  was  for  a  long 
time  unobserved,  even  while  exercising  a  controlling 
power.  At  first  timid  and  shy,  from  undoubted  sense 
of  guilt,  it  avoided  discussion,  yet  was  determined  in 
its  policy.  The  Southern  Senator  who  boasted  that  for 
sixty  years  the  Slave  States  had  governed  the  country 
knew  well  their  constant  inferiority  to  the  Free  States 
in  population,  wealth,  manufactures,  commerce,  schools, 
churches,  libraries,  and  all  the  activities  of  a  true  Civili- 
zation, —  knew  well  that  they  had  contributed  nothing 
to  the  literature  of  the  country,  even  in  Political  Econ- 
omy and  the  science  of  Government,  which  they  have 
so  vehemently  professed,  except  the  now  forgotten 
"  forty  bale  theory,"  a  —  knew  well  that  by  no  principle 

i  This  was  the  special  thunder  of  Mr.  McDuffie  in  the  debates  on  the 
Tariff  during  the  administration  of  General  Jackson. 


325  THE  KEPUBLICAN   PARTY: 

of  justice  could  this  long  predominance  be  explained ; 
but  he  forgot  to  confess  the  secret  agency.  Though 
unseen,  Slavery  was  present  always  with  decisive  in- 
fluence. No  matter  what  the  question,  it  was  the  same. 
Once  the  Free  States  inclined  to  Free  Trade,  but  the 
Slave  States  went  the  other  way;  but  when  the  for- 
mer inclined  towards  Protection,  the  Slave  Power  in 
the  dark  behind  dictated  Free  Trade,  and  so  it  has  been 
till  now.  Here  is  the  subtle  ruling  influence,  against 
which  population,  wealth,  manufactures,  commerce, 
schools,  churches,  libraries,  and  all  the  activities  of  a 
true  Civilization  are  impotent.  The  Slave  Power  is 
always  master,  and  it  is  this  Power  which  for  sixty 
years,  according  to  the  boast  of  the  Senator,  has  gov- 
erned this  broad  and  growing  country,  doing  what  it 
pleases,  and  penetrating  far-away  places,  while  it  sacri- 
fices all  who  will  not  do  its  bidding. 

The  actual  number  of  slaveholders  was  for  a  long 
time  unknown,  and  on  this  account  was  naturally  ex- 
aggerated. It  was  often  represented  very  great.  On 
one  occasion,  a  distinguished  representative  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, whose  name  will  be  ever  cherished  for  de- 
votion to  Human  Eights,  — - 1  mean  the  late  Horace 
Mann,  —  was  rudely  interrupted  on  the  floor  of  Congress 
by  a  member  from  Alabama,  who  averred  that  the  num- 
ber of  slaveholders  was  as  many  as  three  millions.1  At 

1  "  MR.  MANN I  have  seen  the  number  of  actual  slaveholders  vari- 
ously estimated ;  but  the  highest  estimate  I  have  ever  seen  is  three  hundred 
thousand 

"MR.  GAYLE,  of  Alabama,  interrupted,  and  said:  If  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  has  been  informed  that  the  number  of  slaveholders  is  only 
three  hundred  thousand,  then  I  will  tell  him  his  information  is  utterly 
false. 

" MR.  MANN.    Will  the  gentleman  tell  me  how  many  there  are? 

"MR.  GAYLE.     Ten  times  as  many." 

Cong.  Globe,  30th  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  App.,  p.  835,  June  30,  1848. 


ITS   ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND   PERMANENCE.         327 


that  time  there  was  no  official  document  by  which  this 
extravagance  could  be  corrected.  But  at  last  we  have 
it.  The  late  census,  taken  in  1850,  shows  that  the 
whole  number  of  this  peculiar  class,  all  told,  so  un- 
fortunate as  to  hold  slaves,  was  only  347,525 ; 1  and  of 
this  number  the  larger  part  are  small  slaveholders,  leav- 
ing only  92,000  persons  as  owners  of  the  great  mass 
of  slaves,  and  substantial  representatives  of  this  class. 
And  yet  this  small  Oligarchy,  odious  in  origin,  without 
any  foundation  in  that  justice  which  is  the  essential 
base  of  every  civilized  association,  stuck  together  only 
by  confederacy  in  all  the  Jive-headed  wrong  of  Slavery, 
and  constituting  in  itself  what  in  other  days  was  called 
Magnum  Latrocinium,  has,  by  confession  of  one  of  its 
own  leaders,  for  sixty  years  governed  the  Eepublic.  To 
this  end  two  things  have  concurred:  first,  its  associat- 
ed wealth,  being  the  asserted  value  of  its  human  flesh, 
constituting  a  flagitious  capital  of  near  two  thousand 
millions  of  dollars ;  and,  secondly,  its  peculiar  repre- 
sentation in  the  House  of  Representatives,  where,  under 
the  three-fifths  rule  of  the  Constitution,  ninety  members 
actually  hold  their  seats  by  virtue  in  part  of  this  in- 


Distributed  according  to  the  following  table  :  — 


Holders  of  a  single  slave 


1      and   under 


5 

10 

20 

50 

100 

200 

300 

500 

1000 


10 

20 

50 

100 

200 

300 

500 

1000 


and  over 


.    68,820 

105,683 

.     80,765 

54,595 

.      29,733 

6,196 

.       1,479 

187 

56 

9 

2 


Total 


347,525 

DK  Bow's  Compendium  of  the  Seventh  Census,  p.  95. 


328  THE  REPUBLICAN   PARTY: 

defensible  property.  Thus  are  our  Slave-Masters  an 
enormous  Corporation,  or  Joint-Stock  Company,  by  the 
side  of  which  the  United  States  Bank,  with  its  petty 
thirty  millions  of  capital,  and  without  any  peculiar 
representation,  is  dwarfed  into  insignificance. 

All  tyranny,  like  murder,  is  foul  at  the  best ;  but  this 
is  most  foul,  strange,  and  unnatural,  especially  when  it 
is  considered  that  the  States  occupied  by  the  Slave 
Oligarchy  are  far  below  the  Free  States  in  resources  of 
all  kinds.  By  the  last  census  there  was  in  the  Free 
States  a  solid  population  of  freemen  amounting  to  up- 
wards of  thirteen  millions,  while  in  the  Slave  States 
there  was  a  like  population  of  only  six  millions.  In 
other  respects,  important  to  Civilization,  the  disparity 
was  as  great,  —  all  of  which  I  have  amply  shown  else- 
where. And  yet  from  the  beginning  this  Oligarchy  has 
taken  the  lion's  share  among  the  honors  and  trusts  of 
the  Eepublic,  while  it  entered  into  and  possessed  both 
the  old  political  parties,  Whig  and  Democrat,  —  as  wit- 
ness their  servile  resolutions  always,  —  making  them 
one  in  subserviency,  though  double  in  form,  and  renew- 
ing in  them  the  mystery  of  the  Siamese  twins,  which, 
though  separate  in  body  and  different  in  name,  are  con- 
strained by  an  unnatural  ligament  to  a  community  of 
exertion. 

I  feel  humbled,  when  I  dwell  on  the  amazing  dis- 
proportion of  offices  usurped  by  this  Oligarchy.  From 
the  beginning,  all  the  great  posts  of  the  Eepublic  — 
Presidency,  Vice-Presidency,  seats  in  the  Cabinet,  seats 
in  the  Supreme  Court,  Presidency  of  the  Senate,  Speak- 
ership  —  seem  to  be  almost  perpetually  in  their  hands. 
At  this  moment,  the  Free  States,  with  double  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  Slave  States,  have  only  four  out  of  nine 


ITS  ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PERMANENCE.         329 

Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  and  of  these  four,  it 
must  be  said,  three  are  Northern  men  with  Southern 
principles.  And  in  the  humbler  places  at  the  Depart- 
ments the  same  extraordinary  disproportion  prevails. 
Out  of  the  whole  number  there  employed,  787  are  from 
the  Slave  States  and  District  of  Columbia,  and  441 
from  the  Free  States,  but  mostly  with  Southern  prin- 
ciples. These  instances  are  typical.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  National  Government  which  the  Oligarchy  does 
not  appropriate.  Down  to  our  day  it  has  held  the  keys 
of  every  office,-  from  President  to  the  humblest  post- 
master, compelling  all  to  do  its  bidding.  It  makes 
Cabinets,  —  organizes  Courts,  —  directs  the  Army  and 
Navy,  —  manages  every  department  of  public  business, 
— presides  over  the  Census,  —  conducts  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  founded  by  the  generous  charity  of  a  for- 
eigner to  promote  the  interests  of  mankind,  —  and  sub- 
sidizes the  national  press,  alike  in  the  national  capital 
and  in  the  remotest  village  of  the  North. 

Mounting  the  marble  steps  of  the  Capitol,  it  takes 
the  chair  of  the  President  of  the  Senate,  also  the  chair 
of  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  then  arranges  the  Com- 
mittees of  both  bodies,  placing  at  their  head  only  ser- 
vitors of  Slavery,  and  excluding  friends  of  Freedom, 
though  entitled  to  such  places  by  personal  character 
and  the  States  they  represent;  and  thus  it  controls 
the  national  legislation.  From  the  Capitol  to  the  most 
distant  confines,  the  whole  country  is  enslaved.  The 
Mahometan  priest  turns  in  prayer  towards  Mecca,  his 
pulpit  is  on  the  side  which  fronts  towards  Mecca,  his 
auditors  face  towards  Mecca.  But  Slavery  is  our  Mec- 
ca, towards  which  everything  turns,  everything  fronts, 
everything  faces. 


330  THE  REPUBLICAN  PAKTY  : 

In  maintaining  its  power  the  Slave  Oligarchy  applies 
a  test  for  office  very  different  from  that  of  Jefferson : 
"  Is  he  honest  ?  Is  he  capable  ?  Is  he  faithful  to  the 
Constitution  ? "  These  things  are  all  forgotten  now  in 
the  single  question,  signalizing  the  great  change  which 
has  taken  place,  "Is  he  faithful  to  Slavery?"  With 
arrogant  ostracism,  it  excludes  from  every  national  of- 
fice all  who  cannot  respond  to  this  test,  thus  surround- 
ing and  blockading  every  avenue  of  power.  So  complete 
and  offensive  has  this  tyranny  become,  that  at  this  mo- 
ment, while  I  am  speaking,  could  Washington,  or  Jef- 
ferson, or  Franklin,  or  John  Jay,  once  more  descend 
from  his  sphere  above,  to  mingle  in  our  affairs,  and 
bless  us  with  his  wisdom,  not  one  of  them,  with  his 
recorded,  unretracted  opinions  on  Slavery,  could  receive 
a  nomination  for  the  Presidency  from  either  fraction  of 
the  divided  Democratic  party,  or  from  that  other  po- 
litical combination  known  as  the  Union  party,  —  nor, 
stranger  still,  could  either  of  these  sainted  patriots, 
whose  names  alone  open  a  perpetual  fountain  of  grati- 
tude in  all  your  hearts,  be  confirmed  by  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  for  any  political  function  whatever, 
not  even  for  the  local  office  of  Postmaster.  What  I 
now  say,  amid  your  natural  astonishment,  I  have  said 
often  in  addressing  the  people,  and  more  than  once 
from  my  seat  in  the  Senate,  and  no  man  there  has  made 
answer,  for  no  man  who  has  sat  in  its  secret  sessions, 
and  observed  the  test  practically  applied,  could  make 
answer ;  and  I  ask  you  to  accept  this  statement  as 
my  testimony,  derived  from  the  experience  which  is 
my  lot.  Yes,  fellow-citizens,  had  this  test  prevailed  in 
the  earlier  days,  Washington,  "first  in  war,  first  in 
peace,  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,"  could 


ITS  ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PERMANENCE.        331 

not  have  been  created  Generalissimo  of  the  American 
forces,  Jefferson  could  not  have  taken  his  place  on  the 
Committee  to  draft  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  Franklin  could  not  have  gone  forth  to  France, 
with  the  commission  of  the  infant  Republic,  to  secure 
the  invaluable  alliance  of  that  ancient  kingdom,  —  nor 
could  John  Jay,  as  first  Chief  Justice,  have  lent  to 
our  judiciary  the  benignant  grace  of  his  name  and 
character. 

Standing  on  the  bent  necks  of  an  enslaved  race,  with 
four  millions  of  human  beings  as  the  black  marble 
Caryatides  to  support  its  power,  the  Slave  Oligarchy 
erects  itself  into  a  lordly  caste  which  brooks  no  opposi- 
tion. But  when  I  speak  of  Caste,  I  mean  nothing  truly 
polite ;  and  when  I  speak  of  Oligarchy,  I  mean  nothing 
truly  aristocratic.  As  despotism  is  simply  an  abuse  of 
monarchy,  so  Oligarchy  is  simply  an  abuse  of  aristoc- 
racy, unless  it  be  that  most  vulgar  of  all,  "  aristocracy 
of  the  skin."  Derived  from  Slavery,  and  having  the 
interests  of  Slavery  always  in  mind,  our  Oligarchy 
must  naturally  take  its  character  from  this  Jive-headed 
wrong. 

"  Things  bad  begun  make  strong  themselves  by  ill." 

All  that  is  bad  in  Slavery,  its  audacity,  its  immoral- 
ity, its  cruelty,  its  robbery,  its  meanness,  its  ignorance, 
its  barbarous  disregard  of  human  rights,  and  its  barba- 
rous disregard  of  every  obligation,  must  all  be  repro- 
duced in  its  representative.  If  the  Oligarchy  hesitates 
at  nothing  to  serve  its  selfish  ends,  it  simply  acts  in 
harmony  with  Slavery,  from  which  it  draws  its  life- 
blood.  If  in  grasp  of  power  it  is  like  the  hunchback 
Richard,  if  in  falsehood  it  copies  lago,  and  if  in  char- 
acter it  is  low  as  the  brutish  Caliban, 


332  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY: 

"  Which  any  print  of  goodness  will  not  take, 
Being  capable  of  all  ill,"  — 

ay,  if  in  all  these  respects  it  surpasses  its  various  pro- 
totypes, —  if  in  steady  baseness,  in  uniform  brutality, 
and  consummate  wickedness  it  is  without  a  peer,  be 
not  astonished,  fellow-citizens,  for  it  acts  simply  ac- 
cording to  the  original  law  of  its  birth  and  the  inborn 
necessities  of  its  being.  With  all  these  unprecedented 
qualities  and  aptitudes  combined  into  one  intense  ac- 
tivity, it  goes  where  it  will  and  does  what  it  pleases. 
The  Pterodactyl  of  an  early  geological  period,  formed 
for  all  service  and  every  element,  with  neck  of  bird, 
mouth  of  reptile,  wing  of  bat,  body  of  mammifer,  and 
with  hugest  eye,  so  that  it  could  seek  its  prey  in  the 
nio-lit, —  such  was  the  ancient  and  extinct  kindred  of 

O        ' 

this  Oligarchy,  which,  like  Milton's  fiend, 

"  O'er  bog  or  steep,  through  strait,  rough,  dense,  or  rare, 
With  head,  hands,  wings,  or  feet  pursues  his  way, 
And  swims,  or  sinks,  or  wades,  or  creeps,  or  flies." 

The  soul  sickens  in  contemplating  the  acts  of  dis- 
honest tyranny  perpetrated  by  this  lordly  power.  I 
cannot  give  their  prolonged  history  now.  But  looking 
at  the  old  Missouri  Compromise,  founded  on  the  ad- 
mission of  Missouri  as  a  Slave  State,  and  in  consider- 
ation thereof  the  Prohibition  of  Slavery  in  other  out- 
lying territory,  and  seeing  how,  after  an  acquiescence 
of  thirty-four  years,  and  the  irreclaimable  possession  by 
Slavery  of  its  especial  share  in  the  provisions  of  this 
Compromise,  in  violation  of  every  obligation  of  honor, 
compact,  and  good  neighborhood,  and  in  contemptuous 
disregard  of  the  outgushing  sentiments  of  an  aroused 
North,  this  time-honored  Prohibition  was  overturned, 
and  the  vast  region  now  known  as  Kansas  and  Nebraska 


ITS   ORIGIN,   NECESSITY,   AND   PERMANENCE.          333 

opened  to  Slavery,  —  looking  next  at  the  juggling  bill 
by  which  this  was  accomplished,  declaring  that  its  ob- 
ject was  to  leave  the  people  "  perfectly  free  to  form  and 
regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way," 
and  seeing  how,  in  spite  of  these  express  words,  the 
courageous  settlers  there  were  left  a  prey  to  invading 
hordes  from  Missouri,  who,  entering  the  Territory,  or- 
ganized a  Usurpation  which  by  positive  law  proceeded 
to  fasten  Slavery  upon  that  beautiful  soil,  and  to  sur- 
round it  with  a  code  of  death,  so  strict,  that  the  famous 
bell  which  once  swung  in  the  steeple  over  the  Hall  of 
Independence  at  Philadelphia  would  be  nothing  but  a 
nuisance  in  Kansas,  while  its  immortal  inscription,  "Pro- 
claim Liberty  throughout  all  the  land,  unto  all  the  in- 
habitants thereof,"  would  be  an  offence,  and  the  sexton 
who  rang  the  bell  a  criminal,  —  looking  at  the  Lecomp- 
ton  Constitution,  that  masterpiece  of  wicked  contrivance, 
by  which  this  same  people,  in  organizing  a  State,  were 
fraudulently  prevented  from  passing  upon  the  question 
of  Slavery,  and  seeing  how  the  infamous  counterfeit, 
though  repudiated  by  the  people,  was  openly  adopted 
by  the  President,  and  by  him  corruptly  urged  upon 
Congress,  with  all  the  power  of  his  Administration,  — 
looking  at  these  things,  so  recent  and  menacing,  I  feel 
how  vain  it  is  to  expect  truce  or  compromise  with  the 
Slave  Oligarchy.  Punic  in  faith,  as  in  fear,  no  compact 
can  bind  it,  while  all  interpretations  of  the  Constitu- 
tion friendly  to  Freedom,  though  sanctioned  by  Court 
and  Congress  in  continuous  precedent,  are  unceremoni- 
ously rejected.  Faust,  in  the  profound  poem  of  Goethe, 
on  being  told  that  in  Hell  itself  the  laws  prevail,  says  :  — 

"  Now  that  I  like:  so,  then,  one  may,  in  fact, 
Conclude  a  binding  compact  with  you,  gentry! " 


334  THE  REPUBLICAN   PARTY: 

To  which  Mephistopheles  replies  :  — 

"  Whatever  promise  in  our  books  finds  entry 
We  strictly  carry  into  act." 

But  no  compact  or  promise  binds  our  gentry,  although 
entered  again  and  again  in  their  books. 

According  to  a  famous  saying,  Kussia  is  a  "  despotism 
tempered  by  assassination " ;  but  even  the  steel  of  Bru- 
tus, refulgent  in  the  Capitol,  without  the  supplemen- 
tary fulfilment  of  the  wish  of  Caligula,  that  all  should 
have  a  single  life,  must  fail  to  reach  our  despotism,  which 
in  numbers  enjoys  an  immunity  beyond  any  solitary 
tyrant.  Surely,  if  the  Oligarchy  is  to  live  yet  longer,  its 
badges  should  symbolize  its  peculiar  despotism  born  of 
Slavery.  The  coin,  seal,  and  flag  must  be  changed.  Let 
the  eagle  be  removed,  giving  place  to  the  foul  vulture 
with  vulgar  beak  and  filthy  claw,  —  how  unlike  that 
bird  of  Jove,  with  ample  pinion,  and  those  mighty 
pounces,  holding  the  dread  thunderbolt  and  better  olive 
of  peace  !  —  and  instead  of  these,  let  there  be  fetter 
and  lash,  borrowed  from  the  plantation,  which  is  the 
miniature  of  the  broader  plantation  to  which  the  Re- 
public is  reduced.  That  appearance  may  be  accord- 
ing to  reality,  and  that  we  may  not  seem  what  we 
are  not,  this  at  least  must  be  done.  Abandon,  too,  the 
stars  and  stripes,  —  the  stars  numbering  the  present 
Union,  the  stripes  numbering  that  Union  which  gave 
to  mankind  the  Declaration  of  Independence  with  im- 
mortal truth;  and  let  these  also  be  replaced  by  the 
universal  fetter  and  lash,  for  here  is  typified  our  Oli- 
garchy, in  all  present  power,  as  in  all  vital  principle. 
Fetter  and  lash !  The  schoolboy  shall  grow  up  honor- 
ing the  chosen  emblems ;  the  citizen  shall  hail  them 
with  sympathetic  pride ;  the  Republic  shall  be  known 


ITS   ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PERMANENCE,         335 

by  them  on  coin,  seal,  and  flag;  while  the  ruler  of 
the  subjugated  land,  no  longer  President,  shall  be  called 
Overseer. 

Of  course,  fellow-citizens,  you  are  now  ready  to  see 
that  the  corruptions  by  which  the  present  Administra- 
tion is  degraded  are  the  natural  offspring  of  slavehold- 
ing  immorality.  They  have  all  concurred  in  sustaining 
the  policy  of  the  Oligarchy,  and  in  the  case  of  the  Le- 
compton  Constitution  in  direct  effort  to  fasten  Slavery 
upon  a  distant  Territory,  and  they  are  all  marked  by  the 
effrontery  of  Slavery.  There  is  also  its  vulgarity ;  but 
this  is  natural ;  for  is  not  pretension  a  fruitful  source  of 
vulgarity  ?  and,  pray,  what  is  Slavery,  but  an  enormous 
Pretension  ?  Smollett  attributes  the  peculiar  profligacy 
of  England  at  a  particular  period  to  the  demoralization 
of  the  South  Sea  Bubble ;  but  what  is  such  a  fugitive 
influence,  compared  with  Slavery,  which,  indeed,  if  it 
were  not  a  crime,  might  well  be  called  a  Bubble  ?  A 
Government  which  vindicates  the  sale  of  human  beings 
need  not  hesitate  to  purchase  votes,  whether  at  the  polls 
or  in  Congress.  The  two  transactions  belong  to  the 
same  family,  though  unquestionably  the  last  is  the  least 
reprehensible. 

Fellow-citizens,  —  And  now  we  are  brought  to  the 
practical  bearing  of  this  statement.  Beyond  all  doubt 
your  souls  rise  in  judgment  against  these  things.  Be- 
yond all  doubt  you  are  saddened  at  the  shadow  which 
they  cast  over  the  land.  Beyond  all  doubt  you  are 
mi  willing  to  bear  any  responsibility  for  their  longer 
continuance.  But  this  is  not  enough.  There  must  be 
opposition,  active,  constant,  perpetual;  and  this  is  the 


336  THE  KEPUBLICAN  PAETY  : 

foremost  duty  of  patriotism.  From  the  virtuous  Re- 
former, Wycliffe,  whose  name  illumines  the  earlier  pe- 
riod of  English  history,  we  learn  that  men  are  sharers 
in  evil  deeds  who  from  "  coward  dumbness  "  fail  to  op- 
pose them.  There  can  be  no  such  coward  dumbness 
now.  Happily,  a  political  party  is  at  hand  whose  pur- 
pose is  to  combine  and  direct  all  generous  energies  for 
the  salvation  of  the  country. 

Would  you  arrest  these  terrible  corruptions,  and  the 
disastrous  influence  from  which  they  spring,  involving 
nothing  less  than  civilization  on  this  continent,  the  Re- 
publican party  tells  you  how,  and,  in  telling  you  how, 
vindicates  at  once  its  Origin  and  its  Necessity.  The 
work  must  be  done,  and  there  is  no  other  organization 
by  which  it  can  be  done.  A  party  with  such  an  origin 
and  such  a  necessity  cannot  be  for  a  day,  or  for  this 
election  only.  It  cannot  be  less  permanent  than  the  hos- 
tile influence  which  it  is  formed  to  counteract.  There- 
fore, just  so  long  as  the  present  false  theories  of  Slav- 
ery prevail,  whether  concerning  its  character,  morally, 
economically,  and  socially,  or  concerning  its  preroga- 
tives under  the  Constitution,  and  just  so  long  as  the 
Slave  Oligarchy,  which  is  the  sleepless  and  unhesitat- 
ing agent  of  Slavery  in  all  its  pretensions,  continues 
to  exist  as  a  political  power,  the  Republican  party 
must  endure.  If  bad  men  conspire  for  Slavery,  good 
men  must  combine  for  Freedom ;  nor  can  the  Holy 
War  be  ended,  until  the  Barbarism  now  dominant  in 
the  Republic  is  overthrown,  and  the  Pagan  power  is 
driven  from  our  Jerusalem.  And  when  this  triumph 
is  won,  securing  the  immediate  object  of  our  organ- 
ization, the  Republican  party  will  not  die,  but,  purified 
by  long  contest  with  Slavery,  and  filled  with  higher 


ITS  ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PERMANENCE.         337 

life,  it  will  be  lifted  to  yet  other  efforts  for  the  good  of 
man. 

At  present  the  work  is  plain  before  us.  It  is  simply 
to  elect  our  candidates :  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois, 
whose  ability,  so  conspicuously  shown  in  his  own  State, 
attracted  at  once  the  admiration  of  the  whole  country, 
whose  character  no  breath  has  touched,  and  whose  heart 
is  large  enough  to  embrace  the  broad  Eepublic  and  all 
its  people,  —  him  you  will  elect  President ;  and  Hanni- 
bal Hamlin,  of  Maine,  whose  clear  head,  firm  principles, 
and  ample  experience  none  who  sit  with  him  in  the 
Senate  Chamber  can  contest,  —  him  you  will  elect  Vice- 
President.  Electing  these,  we  shall  put  the  National 
Government,  at  least  in  its  Executive  department,  open- 
ly and  actively  on  the  side  of  Freedom ;  and  this  alone 
will  be  of  incalculable  influence,  not  only  in  itself,  but 
as  harbinger  of  the  Future. 

First  and  foremost,  we  shall  save  the  Territories  from 
the  five-headed  Barbarism  of  Slavery,  keeping  them  in 
their  normal  condition,  as  they  came  from  the  hand  of 
God,  free,  —  with  Freedom  written  on  the  soil  and  en- 
graved on  the  rock,  while  the  winds  whisper  it  in  the 
trees,  the  rivers  murmur  it  in  their  flow,  and  all  Nature 
echoes  it  in  joy  unspeakable. 

Next,  we  shall  save  the  country  and  the  age  from  that 
crying  infamy,  the  Slave-Trade,  whose  opening  anew,  as 
now  menaced,  is  but  a  logical  consequence  of  the  new 
theories  of  Slavery.  If  Slavery  be  the  "  blessing  "  it  is 
vaunted,  then  must  the  Slave-Trade  be  beneficent,  while 
they  who  ply  it  with  fiercest  activity  take  place  among 
the  missionaries  and  saints  of  humanity. 

Next,  we  shall  save  the  Constitution,  at  least  within 
the  sphere  of  Executive  influence,  from  outrage  and 
VOL.  n.  — 22 


338  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY: 

perversion ;  so  that  the  President  will  no  longer  lend 
himself  to  that  wildest  pretension  of  the  Slave  Oli- 
crarchy,  as  Mr.  Buchanan  has  done,  declaring  that  Slav- 
ery is  carried  under  the  Constitution  into  all  the  Terri- 
tories, and  that  it  now  exists  in  Kansas  as  firmly  as  in 
South  Carolina.  As  out  of  nothing  can  come  nothing, 
so  out  of  the  nothing  in  the  Constitution  on  this  sub- 
ject can  be  derived  no  support  for  this  inordinate  pre- 
tension, which  may  be  best  dismissed  in  that  classical 
similitude  by  which  the  ancients  rebuked  a  groundless 
folly,  when  they  called  it  ass's  wool,  or  something  that 
does  not  exist,  and  plainly  said  to  its  author,  Asini 
lanas  quceris,  —  "  You  are  in  quest  of  ass's  wool ! "  x 

Next,  we  shall  help  save  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, now  dishonored  and  disowned  in  its  essential, 
life-giving  truth,  —  the  Equality  of  Men.  This  tran- 
scendent principle,  which  appears  twice  at  the  Crea- 
tion, first,  when  God  said,  "  Let  us  make  man  in  our 
image,"  and,  secondly,  in  the  Unity  of  the  Eace,  then 
divinely  established,  —  which  appears  again  in  the  New 
Testament,  when  it  was  said,  "  God,  that  made  the 
world  and  all  things  therein,  hath  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men,"  —  which  appears  again  in  the  primal 
reason  of  the  world,  anterior  to  all  institutions  and 
laws,  —  belongs  to  those  self-evident  truths,  sometimes 
called  axioms,  which  no  man  can  question  without  ex- 
posing to  question  his  own  intelligence  or  honesty.  As 
well  deny  arithmetically  that  two  and  two  make  four, 
or  deny  geometrically  that  a  straight  line  is  the  short- 
est distance  between  two  points,  as  deny  the  axiomatic, 
self-evident,  beaming  truth,  that  all  men  are  equal.  As 
of  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  blind  is  he  who  cannot 

1  Erasmus,  Adagia,  Chil.  I.  Centur.  IV.  Prov.  79. 


ITS  ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND  PERMANENCE.        339 

perceive  it.  Of  course,  this  principle,  uttered  in  a 
Declaration  of  Eights,  is  applicable  simply  to  rights; 
and  it  is  a  childish  sophism  to  allege  against  it  the 
obvious  inequalities  of  form,  character,  and  faculties. 
As  axiom,  it  admits  no  exception ;  for  it  is  the  essence 
of  an  axiom,  whether  in  geometry  or  in  morals,  to  be 
universal  As  abstract  truth,  it  is  also  without  excep- 
tion, according  to  the  essence  of  such  truth.  And, 
finally,  as  self-evident  truth,  so  announced  in  the  Dec- 
laration, it  is  without  exception;  for  only  such  truth 
can  be  self-evident.  Thus,  whether  axiom,  abstract 
truth,  or  self-evident  truth,  it  is  always  universal  In 
vindicating  this  principle,  the  Republican  party  have  a 
grateful  duty,  to  which  they  are  moved  by  justice  to  a 
much-injured  race,  excluded  from  its  protection,  and  by 
justice  also  to  the  Fathers,  whose  well-chosen  words, 
fit  foundation  for  empire,  are  turned  into  mockery. 
Nor  can  the  madness  of  the  Propagandists  be  better 
illustrated  than  in  this  assault  on  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  stultifying  the  Fathers  for  no  other  pur- 
pose than  to  clear  the  way  for  their  five-headed  abomi- 
nation of  Compulsory  Labor  without  Wages. 

And,  finally,  we  shall  help  expel  the  Slave  Oligar- 
chy from  all  its  seats  of  National  power,  driving  it 
back  within  the  States.  This  alone  is  worthy  of -every 
effort ;  for,  until  this  is  done,  nothing  else  can  be  com- 
pletely done.  In  vain  you  seek  economy  or  purity  in 
the  National  Government,  in  vain  you  seek  improve- 
ment of  rivers  and  harbors,  in  vain  you  seek  home- 
steads on  the  public  lands  for  actual  settlers,  in  vain 
you  seek  reform  in  administration,  in  vain  you  seek 
dignity  and  peace  in  our  foreign  relations,  with  just 
sympathy  for  struggling  Freedom  everywhere,  while 


340  THE  REPUBLICAN   PARTY: 

this  selfish  and  corrupt  power  holds  the  National  purse 
and  the  National  sword.  Prostrate  the  Slave  Oligarchy, 
and  the  door  will  be  open  to  all  generous  principles. 
Prostrate  the  Slave  Oligarchy,  and  the  wickedness  of 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  will  be  expelled  from  the  stat- 
ute-book. Prostrate  the  Slave  Oligarchy,  and  Slavery 
will  cease  at  once  in  the  National  Capital.  Prostrate 
the  Slave  Oligarchy,  and  the  Slave- Trade  will  no  longer 
skulk  along  our  coasts  beneath  the  National  flag.  Pros- 
trate the  Slave  Oligarchy,  and  Liberty  will  become,  in 
fact,  as  in  law,  the  normal  condition  of  all  the  National 
Territories.  Prostrate  the  Slave  Oligarchy,  and  the 
National  Government  will  be  at  length  divorced  from 
Slavery.  Prostrate  the  Slave  Oligarchy,  and  the  Na- 
tional star  will  be  changed  from  Slavery  to  Freedom. 
Prostrate  the  Slave  Oligarchy,  and  the  North  will  be 
no  longer  the  vassal  of  the  South.  Prostrate  the  Slave 
Oligarchy,  and  the  North  will  be  admitted  to  its  just 
share  in  the  trusts  and  honors  of  the  Republic.  Pros- 
trate the  Slave  Oligarchy,  and  a  mighty  victory  of 
Peace  will  be  won,  whose  influence  on  the  Future  of  our 
country  and  of  mankind  no  imagination  can  paint. 

Prostrated,  exposed,  and  permanently  expelled  from 
ill-gotten  power,  the  Oligarchy  will  cease  to  exist  as  a 
political  combination.  Its  final  doom  may  be  postponed, 
but  it  is  certain.  Languishing,  it  may  live  yet  longer ; 
but  it  will  surely  die.  Yes,  fellow-citizens,  surely  it 
will  die,  when,  disappointed  in  purpose,  driven  back 
within  the  States,  and  constrained  within  these  limits, 
it  can  no  longer  rule  the  Republic  as  a  plantation 
of  slaves  at  home,  can  no  longer  menace  the  Territo- 
ries with  five-headed  device  to  compel  Labor  without 
Wages,  can  no  longer  fasten  upon  the  Constitution  an 


ITS   ORIGIN,  NECESSITY,  AND   PERMANENCE.        341 

interpretation  which  makes  merchandise  of  men  and 
gives  disgraceful  immunity  to  brokers  of  human  souls 
and  butchers  of  human  hearts,  and  can  no  longer  grind 
flesh  and  blood,  with  groans  and  sighs,  tears  of  moth- 
ers and  cries  of  children,  into  the  cement  of  a  barbarous 
political  power.  Surely,  then,  in  its  retreat,  smarting 
under  the  indignation  of  an  aroused  people  and  the  con- 
curring judgment  of  the  civilized  world,  it  must  die, — 
it  may  be  as  a  poisoned  rat  dies  of  rage  in  its  hole. 

Meanwhile  all  good  omens  are  ours.  The  work  can- 
not stop.  Quickened  by  the  triumph  now  so  near,  with 
a  Republican  President  in  power,  State  after  State, 
quitting  the  condition  of  a  Territory  and  spurning  Slav- 
ery, will  be  welcomed  into  our  Plural  Unit,  and,  joining 
hands  together,  will  become  a  belt  of  fire  girt  about  the 
Slave  States,  within  which  Slavery  must  die,  —  or,  hap- 
pier still,  joining  hands  together,  they  will  become  to 
the  Slave  States  a  zone  of  Freedom,  radiant,  like  the  an- 
cient cestus  of  Beauty,  with  transforming  power. 

It  only  remains  that  we  speed  these  good  influences. 
Others  may  dwell  on  the  Past  as  secure;  but  to  my 
mind,  under  the  laws  of  a  beneficent  God,  the  Future 
also  is  secure,  —  on  the  single  condition  that  we  press 
forward  in  the  work  with  heart  and  soul,  forgetting  self, 
turning  from  all  temptations  of  the  hour,  and,  intent 
only  on  the  cause, 

"  With  mean  complacence  ne'er  betray  our  trust, 
Nor  be  so  civil  as  to  prove  unjust"  1 

1  Pope,  Essay  on  Criticism,  580,  581. 


OUR  CANDIDATES  WILL  BE  ELECTED. 

LETTER  TO  THE  LINCOLN  AND  HAMLIN  CLUB  OP  OWEGO,  NEW 
YORK,  JULY  30,  1860. 


BOSTON,  July  30,  1860. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  It  is  still  uncertain  whether  my  en- 
gagements here  and  elsewhere  will  allow  me  to 
visit  Tioga  County  during  the  present  season.  But  I 
beg  to  assure  the  Republicans  there  of  my  sympathy  in 
their  generous  labors. 

There  is  ample  reward  simply  in  working  for  a  good 
cause ;  but  we  have  before  us,  also,  the  assurance  that 
our  candidates  will  be  elected. 

Accept  my  thanks  for  the  honor  of  your  invitation, 
and  believe  me,  dear  Sir, 

With  much  respect, 

Faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNEB. 

ISAAC  S.  CATLIN,  Esq. 


EMANCIPATION  IN  THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES 
A  BLESSING,  AND  NOT  A  FAILUEE. 

LETTER  TO  A  PUBLIC  MEETING  AT  FRAMINGHAM,  MASSACHUSETTS, 
JULY  30,  1860. 


BOSTON,  July  30,  1860. 

MY  DEAE  SIR,— If  I  forego  the  opportunity 
which  you  offer  me  of  uniting  with  the  earnest 
Abolitionists  of  Massachusetts  in  celebrating  the  anni- 
versary of  Emancipation  in  the  British  Islands  of  the 
West  Indies,  I  pray  you  not  to  believe  me  insensible 
to  the  magnanimous  teachings  of  that  day,  —  destined,  I 
doubt  not,  as  men  advance  in  virtue,  to  take  its  place 
yet  more  and  more  among  the  great  days  of  History. 

Nothing  shows  the  desperate  mendacity  of  the  par- 
tisans of  Slavery  more  than  the  unfounded  persistence 
with  which  they  call  this  act  "  a  failure."  If  it  be  a  fail- 
ure, then  is  virtue  a  failure,  then  is  justice  a  failure, 
then  is  humanity  a  failure,  then  is  God  himself  a  fail- 
ure ;  for  virtue,  justice,  humanity,  and  God  himself  are 
all  represented  in  this  act. 

Well-proved  facts  vindicate  completely  the  policy  of 
Emancipation,  even  if  it  were  not  commanded  by  the 
simplest  rules  of  morality.  All  testimony,  whether  from 
official  documents  or  from  travellers,  shows,  beyond 
question,  that  in  these  islands  the  condition  of  the  ne- 
gro is  improved  by  emancipation;  but  this  testimony 


344      EMANCIPATION  IN  THE  BKITISH  WEST  INDIES. 

is  especially  instructive,  when  we  learn  that  the  im- 
provement is  most  strongly  manifest  in  those  who  have 
been  born  in  Freedom.  Ask  any  person  familiar  with 
these  islands,  —  as  I  have  often  done,  —  or  consult  any 
unprejudiced  authority,  and  such  will  be  the  answer. 
This  alone  is  enough  to  vindicate  the  act.  Moreover,  it 
is  enough,  if  men  are  raised  in  the  scale  of  being,  even 
though  sugar  perishes  from  the  earth. 

But  careful  statistics  attest  that  the  material  inter- 
ests of  these  possessions  share  the  improvement  of  the 
population.  In  some  of  the  islands,  as  in  Barbadoes 
and  Antigua,  the  advance  is  conspicuous,  while  in  Ja- 
maica itself,  which  is  the  instance  most  constantly  cited 
of  "  failure,"  the  evidence  is  unanswerable,  that  the  de- 
rangement of  affairs  cannot  be  charged  upon  Emancipa- 
tion, but  is  a  natural  incident  to  the  anomalous  condi- 
tion of  that  island  throughout  its  history,  aggravated  by 
insane  pretensions  of  the  Slave-Masters.  Two  different 
Governors  of  this  island l  have  assured  me,  that,  with  all 
their  experience  there,  they  looked  upon  Emancipation 
as  a  "  blessing."  Thus  is  it  shown  that  the  true  policy 
of  this  world  is  found  in  justice.  Nothing  is  truer  than 
that  injustice,  beside  its  essential  wickedness,  is  folly 
also.  The  unjust  man  is  a  fool. 

Only  recently  important  testimony  on  this  subject 
has  found  place,  where  it  would  be  hardly  expected, 
in  the  columns  of  the  "  New  York  Times  "  ;  and  similar 
testimony  occurs  in  other  quarters,  both  in  England  and 
America.  And  yet,  with  the  truth  flashing  in  their 
faces,  our  Slave-Masters  misrepresent  the  sublime  and 
beautiful  act  as  a  "failure"!  This,  however,  is  of  a 
piece  with  their  whole  conduct. 

1  The  Earl  of  Elgin  and  Sir  Charles  Grey. 


EMANCIPATION  IN   THE   BRITISH  WEST   INDIES.      345 

Let  me  thank  you  for  the  invitation  with  which  you 
have  honored  me,  and  for  the  good  wishes  with  which 
you  cheer  me ;  and  believe  me,  my  dear  Sir, 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNEB. 

WILUAM  LLOYD  GARRISON. 


SLAVERY  A  BARBAROUS  DISEASE  TO  BE 
STAYED. 

LETTER  TO  A  REPUBLICAN  MEETING  AT  THE  DEDICATION  OF  THE 
REPUBLICAN  WIGWAM  IN  NEW  YORK,  AUGUST  6,  1860. 


BOSTON,  August  6,  1860. 

ENTLEMEN,  —  Accept  my  thanks  for  the  invita- 
tion  with  which  you  have  honored  me.  Knowing 
by  recent  experience  something  of  the  generous  Re- 
publicans of  New  York,  it  is  with  reluctance  that  I 
renounce  the  opportunity  you  give  me  of  mingling 
with  them  on  an  interesting  occasion. 

As  citizens  of  a  great  metropolis,  they  have  duties  of 
peculiar  difficulty.  It  is  in  these  centres  that  the  Pro- 
slavery  sentiment  of  the  North  shows  itself  with  vio- 
lence often  kindred  to  that  of  the  plantation,  so  as 
almost  to  justify  the  language  of  Jefferson,  who  called 
great  cities  "  sores  "  of  the  body  politic.1  Even  this  ex- 
pression does  not  seem  too  strong,  when  we  recognize 
the  infection  of  Slavery  breaking  out  sometimes  in  the 
violence  of  mobs,  and  constantly  manifest  in  the  press, 
in  public  speech,  and  in  a  corrupt  public  sentiment. 
It  belongs  to  the  Republican  party,  by  gentle,  healing 
influences,  guided  by  a  firm  hand,  to  inaugurate  the 

1  "  The  mobs  of  great  cities  add  just  so  much  to  the  support  of  pure 
government  as  sores  do  to  the  strength  of  the  human  body." — Notes  on 
Virginia,  Query  XIX. :  Writings,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  406. 


SLAVERY  A  BARBAROUS   DISEASE   TO   BE   STAYED.       347 

work  of  cure,  that  health  may  be  substituted  for  dis- 
ease. 

Meanwhile  the  wretched  disease  must  be  understood, 
and  I  venture  to  call  attention  to  a  work  just  published 
in  New  York,  where  it  is  exposed  with  consummate 
ability :  I  refer  to  "  Slavery  in  History,"  by  Adam  Gu- 
rowski.  The  learned  author,  who  vindicates  his  new 
title  as  American  citizen  by  noble  effort  for  the  good  of 
his  adopted  country,  exhibits  Slavery,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  time,  in  all  nations  and  places,  as  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  a  monstrosity,  disturbing,  corrupting,  and 
debasing  the  government  under  which  it  exists,  and  all 
the  individuals  who  are  parties  to  it,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly :  for  no  man  can  sustain  Slavery,  or  in  any  way 
apologize  for  it,  without  suffering  in  moral,  if  not  also 
in  intellectual  nature.  Such  a  work,  founded  on  careful 
studies,  and  executed  in  the  spirit  of  science,  will  natu- 
rally take  a  place  in  libraries ;  but  I  am  sure  that  all 
inquirers  into  the  character  of  Slavery,  and  especially 
all  practical  Republicans,  engaged  in  efforts  to  stay  the 
spread  of  this  barbarous  disease,  ought  to  welcome  it  as 
an  ally.  No  good  citizen  who  makes  himself  acquainted 
with  Slavery  can  hesitate  to  join  against  it. 

Accept  my  best  wishes  for  the  success  of  your  festi- 
val, and  also  the  assurance  of  the  respect  with  which 

I  tiave  the  honor  to  be,  Gentlemen, 

Your  obliged  Servant, 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 
HOMER  FRANKLIN,  ABRAHAM  W.  KENNEDY,  W.  K.  SCHENOK,  Esqra. 


TRIBUTE  TO  A  COLLEGE  CLASSMATE. 

KEMARKS  ON  THE  LATE  JOHN  W.  BROWNE,  AUGUST  20,  1860. 


MR.  BROWNE  died  suddenly,  May  1st,  1860.  A  little  volume  was 
printed  in  the  summer,  entitled  "In  Memoriam  J.  W.  B.,"  to  which 
Mr.  Sumner  contributed  the  following  notice.  Prefixed  were  the 
words  of  Fenelon  :  — 

"II  n'y  a  que  les  grands  cffiurs  qui  sachent  combien  il  y  a  de  gloire  a 
§tre  bon." 

I  SHOULD  feel  unhappy,  if  this  little  book  of  tribute 
to  my  early  friend  were  allowed  to  appear  without 
a  word  from  me.  We  were  classmates  in  college,  and 
for  two  out  of  the  four  years  of  undergraduate  life 
were  chums.  We  were  also  together  in  the  Law  School. 
Perhaps  no  person  now  alive  knew  him  better,  during 
all  this  period.  Separated  afterwards  by  the  occupa- 
tions of  the  world,  I  saw  him  only  at  intervals,  though 
our  friendship  continued  unbroken  to  the  end,  and 
when  we  met,  it  was  always  with  the  warmth  and  con- 
fidence of  our  youthful  relations. 

Of  all  my  classmates,  I  think  that  he  gave,  in  college, 
the  largest  promise  of  future  eminence,  mingled,  how- 
ever, with  uncertainty  whether  the  waywardness  of 
genius  might  not  betray  him.  None  then  imagined 
that  the  fiery  nature,  nursed  upon  the  study  of  Byron, 
and  delighting  always  to  talk  of  his  poetry  and  life, 
would  be  tamed  to  the  modest  ways  which  he  after- 
wards adopted.  The  danger  seemed  to  be,  that,  like  his 


TRIBUTE   TO  A  COLLEGE   CLASSMATE.  349 

prototype,  he  would  break  loose  from  social  life,  and 
follow  the  bent  of  lawless  ambition,  or  at  least  plunge 
with  passion  into  the  strifes  of  the  world.  His  earnest- 
ness at  this  time  bordered  on  violence,  and  in  all  his 
opinions  he  was  a  partisan.  But  he  was  already  thinker 
as  well  as  reader,  and  expressed  himself  with  accuracy 
and  sententious  force.  Voice  harmonizes  with  charac- 
ter, and  his  was  too  apt  to  be  ungentle  and  loud. 

They  who  have  known  him  only  latterly  will  be  sur- 
prised at  this  glimpse  of  him  in  early  life.  A  change 
so  complete  in  sentiment,  manner,  and  voice,  as  took 
place  in  him,  I  have  never  known.  It  seemed  like  one 
of  those  instances  in  Christian  story,  where  the  man  of 
violence  is  softened  suddenly  into  a  saintly  character. 
I  do  not  exaggerate  in  the  least.  So  much  have  I  been 
impressed  by  it  at  times,  that  I  could  hardly  believe  in 
his  personal  identity,  and  I  have  recalled  the  good  Fra 
Cristoforo,  in  the  exquisite  romance  of  Manzoni,  to 
prove  that  the  simplest  life  of  unostentatious  goodness 
may  succeed  a  youth  hot  with  passion  of  all  kinds. 

To  me,  who  knew  him  so  well  in  his  other  moods, 
it  was  touching  in  the  extreme  to  note  this  change. 
Listening  to  his  voice,  now  so  gentle  and  low,  while 
he  conversed  on  the  duties  of  life,  and  with  perfect 
simplicity  revealed  his  own  abnegation  of  worldly  aims, 
I  have  been  filled  with  reverence.  At  these  times 
his  conversation  was  peculiar  and  instructive.  He  had 
thought  for  himself,  and  expressed  what  he  said  with 
all  his  native  force  refined  by  new-born  sweetness  of 
soul,  which  would  have  commended  sentiments  even 
of  less  intrinsic  interest.  I  saw  how,  in  the  purity 
of  his  nature,  he  turned  aside  from  riches  and  from 
ambition  of  all  kinds,  content  with  a  tranquil  existence. 


350  TRIBUTE  TO  A  COLLEGE   CLASSMATE. 

undisturbed  by  any  of  those  temptations  which  promised 
once  to  exercise  such  sway  over  him.  But  his  opinions, 
while  uttered  with  modesty,  were  marked  by  the  hardi- 
hood of  an  original  thinker,  showing  that  in  him 

"the  Gods  had  joined 
The  mildest  manners  and  the  bravest  mind." 

His  firm  renunciation  of  office,  opening  the  way  to 
a  tempting  political  career,  when  formally  tendered  to 
him,  is  almost  unique.  He  had  been  Eepresentative 
from  Lynn,  in  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  and  was 
nominated  as  Senator  for  Essex.  This  was  long  ago, 
in  1838,  while  he  was  yet  a  young  man ;  and  here  his 
sagacity  seemed  to  be  remarkable  as  his  principles.  At 
that  early  day,  when  the  two  old  political  parties  had 
been  little  criticised,  he  announced  that  their  strife 
was  "  occasional  and  temporary,  and  that  both  had  for- 
gotten or  overlooked  the  great  principle  of  equal  liberty 
for  all,  upon  which  a  free  government  must  rest  as  its 
only  true  and  safe  basis."  He  then  proceeded  to  dis- 
solve his  connection  with  parties,  in  words  worthy  of 
perpetual  memory.  "  I  disconnect  myself  from  party," 
he  said,  "  whose  iron  grasp  holds  hard  even  upon  the 
least  of  us,  and  mean  in  my  little  sphere,  as  a  private 
individual,  to  serve  what  seems  to  me  the  cause  of  the 
country  and  humanity.  I  cannot  place  currency  above 
Liberty.  I  cannot  place  money  above  man.  I  cannot 
fight  heartily  for  the  Whigs  and  against  their  opponents, 
when  I  feel,  that,  whichever  shall  be  the  victorious 
party,  the  claims  of  humanity  will  be  forgotten  in 
the  triumph,  and  that  the  rights  of  the  slave  may  be 
crushed  beneath  the  advancing  hosts  of  the  victors." l 

1  Letter  to  the  Whig  County  Committee  of  the  County  of  Essex,  Novem- 
ber 5,  1838:  In  Memoriam  J.  W.  B.,  pp.  9,  10. 


TRIBUTE  TO  A  COLLEGE  CLASSMATE.  351 

No  better  words  have  "been  uttered  in  our  political  his- 
tory. In  this  spirit,  and  with  his  unquestionable  abili- 
ties, he  might  well  have  acted  an  important  part  in  the 
growing  conflict  with  Slavery.  But  his  love  of  retreat 
grew  also,  and  he  shrank  completely  from  all  the  ac- 
tivities of  political  life.  There  was  nothing  that  was 
not  within  his  reach  ;  but  he  could  not  be  tempted. 

I  cannot  disguise  that  at  times  I  was  disposed  to 
criticise  this  withdrawal,  as  suggesting  too  closely  the 
questionable  philosophy  concentrated  in  the  saying,  Bene 
vixit  qui  bene  latuit.  But  as  often  as  I  came  within  the 
sphere  of  his  influence,  and  felt  the  simple  beauty  of 
his  life,  while  I  saw  how  his  soul,  like  the  sensitive 
leaf,  closed  at  the  touch  of  the  world,  I  was  willing 
to  believe  that  he  had  chosen  wisely  for  himself,  or 
at  all  events  that  his  course  was  founded  on  a  system 
deliberately  adopted,  upon  which  even  an  old  friend 
must  not  intrude.  Having  always  the  greatest  confi- 
dence in  his  resources,  intellectual  as  well  as  moral,  I 
was  never  without  hope  that  in  some  way  he  would 
make  his  mark  upon  his  country  and  his  age.  If  he 
has  not  done  this,  he  has  at  least  left  an  example  pre- 
cious to  all  who  knew  him. 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES. 

SPEECH  AT  THE  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY 
AT  WORCESTER,  AUGUST  29,  1860. 


THIS  Convention  was  organized  by  the  choice  of  the  following 
officers  :  — 

President,  —  George  S.  Boutwell  of  Groton. 

Vice- Presidents,  —  At  large,  —  Alfred  Macy  of  Nantucket,  Robert  T. 
Davis  of  Fall  River,  Ezra  "W.  Taft  of  Dedham,  George  Morey  of  Bos- 
ton, Samuel  Hooper  of  Boston,  Charles  W.  Upham  of  Salem,  P.  J. 
Stone  of  Charlestown,  B.  C.  Sargent  of  Lowell,  Ebenezer  Torrey  of 
Fitchburg,  Joel  Hayden  of  Williamsburg,  W.  B.  C.  Pearsons  of  Holyoke  ; 
Suffolk,  —  Charles  Torrey  of  Boston  ;  Essex, —  Henry  K.  Oliver  of  Law- 
rence ;  Middlesex,  —  Charles  Hudson  of  Lexington  ;  Worcester,  — 
P.  Emory  Aldrich  of  Worcester  ;  Norfolk,  —  James  Ritchie  of  Roxbury  ; 
Bristol,  — Samuel  0.  Dunbar  of  Taunton  ;  Hampden,  • —  E.  B.  Gillette 
of  Westfield ;  Hampshire.  —  William  Hyde  of  Ware  ;  Franklin,  —  Wil- 
liam B.  Washburn  of  Greenfield  ;  Berkshire,  —  Walter  Laflin  of  Pitts- 
field  ;  Plymouth,  —  Levi  Reed  of  Abington  ;  Barnstable,  —  James  Gif- 
ford  of  Provincetown  ;  Nantucket,  —  Edward  Field  of  Nantucket ; 
Dukes,  —  John  Vinson  of  Edgartown. 

Secretaries,  —  George  W.  McLellan  of  Cambridge,  Andrew  Tower  of 
Maiden,  Philip  Cook  of  Provincetown,  A.  B.  Underwood  of  Newton, 
W.  C.  Sheldon  of  Ware,  W.  W.  Clapp,  Jr.,  of  Boston,  Charles  H.  Spring 
of  Holyoke,  Franklin  Williams  of  Roxbury,  J.  J.  Piper  of  Fitchburg, 
Edmund  Anthony  of  New  Bedford,  Thomas  G.  Kent  of  Milford, 
Edwin  B.  George  of  Groveland,  W.  S.  George  of  Adams,  J.  A.  Alden 
of  East  Bridgewater,  S.  S.  Eastman  of  Greenfield,  W.  A.  Brabiner  of 
Brighton. 

At  this  Convention  John  A.  Andrew  was  for  the  first  time  nomi- 
nated as  Governor. 

The  Convention  had  more  than  its  annual  importance,  as  it  was  on 
the  eve  of  a  Presidential  election.  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois,  and 
Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  were  the  Republican  candidates  for  Presi- 


PRESIDENTIAL   CANDIDATES   AND   THE  ISSUES.       353 

dent  and  Vice  -  President ;  John  C.  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  and 
Joseph  Lane,  of  Oregon,  the  Democratic  candidates  ;  Stephen  H.  Doug- 
las, of  Illinois,  and  Herschell  V.  Johnson,  of  Georgia,  the  candidates 
of  a  seceding  body  of  Democrats,  known  as  the  Douglas  party  ;  John 
Bell,  of  Tennessee,  and  Edward  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  candidates 
of  old  Whigs,  called  at  the  time  the  Bell-Everett  party. 

On  motion  of  J.  D.  Baldwin,  of  Worcester,  afterwards  Kepresenta- 
tive  in  Congress,  Mr.  Sumner  was  invited  to  address  the  Convention. 
The  report  says  :  — 

"  Mr.  Sumner  then  came  forward,  and  his  appearance  upon  the  platform 
was  hailed  with  enthusiastic  shouts,  which  testified  the  esteem  and  admira- 
tion in  which  the  distinguished  Senator  is  held  by  his  fellow-Republicans  of 
the  Commonwealth.  The  cheering  was  continued  some  minutes,  and  when 
it  had  subsided,  Mr.  Sumner  proceeded  to  address  the  crowded  assembly, 
—  the  vast  hall  being  filled  to  overflowing." 


ME.  PEESIDEOT,  —  It  is  now  six  years  since  I 
had  the  honor  of  meeting  my  Eepublican  fellow- 
citizens  of  Massachusetts  in  State  Convention,  drawn 
together  from  all  parts  of  our  beloved  Commonwealth, 
—  and  then  also,  I  remember  well,  it  was  at  this  good 
city  of  Worcester.  Returning,  at  last,  with  restored 
health,  to  the  activities  of  public  life,  I  am  happy  again 
in  this  opportunity.  It  is  pleasant  to  look  into  the 
faces  of  friends,  and  to  feel  the  sympathy  of  kindred 
hearts. 

Nor  can  I  disguise  the  satisfaction  which  I  find  at 
being  here  in  Worcester,  —  early  and  constant  home 
of  the  Eepublican  cause.  When  other  places,  even  in 
Massachusetts,  were  indifferent  for  Freedom,  Worcester 
was  earnest ;  and  when  the  cause  was  defeated  in  other 
counties,  here,  under  the  lead  of  an  eminent  citizen, 
now  the  ornament  of  the  bench,1  it  triumphed  by  bril- 
liant majorities ;  so  that  Worcester  became  known,  not 
only  throughout  Massachusetts,  but  everywhere,  through- 

1  Hon.  Charles  Allen. 

VOL.  TI. — 23 


354      PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND   THE  ISSUES. 

out  the  country,  as  our  impregnable  stronghold.  Long 
since,  while  America  was  yet  an  unsettled  wilder- 
ness, an  English  poet  depicted  a  county  of  our  mother- 
land as 

"  That  shire  which  we  the  heart  of  England  well  may  call " ;  l 

and  this  ancient  verse  furnishes  a  descriptive  phrase 
which  has  been  aptly  applied  to  our  Worcester,  "  the 
heart,"  as  it  is  the  central  county,  of  the  Commonwealth. 
But  though  truly  belonging  to  Worcester  on  this  ac- 
count, I  have  always  been  glad  to  believe  that  it  only 
justly  depicted  her  as  the  "  heart "  of  our  cause,  —  here 
at  least  in  Massachusetts. 

If  this  cause  were  of  common  political  interest,  if 
it  turned  only  on  some  question  of  mere  policy,  or  if 
it  involved  simply  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office, 
I  should  willingly  leave  the  contest  to  others.  It 
would  have  little  attraction  for  me  But  it  is  far  above 
these  things.  It  concerns  the  permanent  well-being, 
primarily,  of  all  the  outlying  territories  of  the  Republic, 
broad  enough  for  empires,  now  menaced  by  Slavery; 
and  since  one  part  of  the  body  cannot  suffer  without 
all  being  affected,  it  concerns  the  permanent  well-being 
and  also  the  good  name  of  the  whole  country,  clouded 
by  the  growing  influence  of  Slavery.  Nor  is  this  all. 
The  special  motive  for  the  proposed  extension  of  Slav- 
ery is  to  fortify  the  Slave  Power  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  and,  through  the  assured  preponderance 
of  this  Power  there,  to  control  the  National  Govern- 
ment in  legislation,  diplomacy,  and  the  distribution  of 
office,  so  that,  in  short,  no  law  can  be  passed,  no  treaty 

1  Drayton,  Poly-Olhion,  Song  XIII.  Warwickshire,  the  middle  county  of 
England,  is  the  shire  referred  to. 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND   THE   ISSUES.       355 

can  be  ratified,  and  no  individual,  though  possessing 
all  possible  fitness  for  public  service,  can  be  confirmed 
for  office  of  any  kind,  without  the  consent  of  the  Slave 
Power,  —  thus,  through  the  Senate,  controlling  the  Ju- 
diciary itself.  Seeking,  therefore,  by  active  measures, 
—  I  say  active  and  immediate  measures,  —  to  save  the 
Territories,  you  seek  also  to  save  the  whole  country,  not 
only  from  a  deadly  influence,  but  also  from  a  degrad- 
ing rule,  which  ostracizes  from  office  all  who  avow  the 
early  opinions  of  the  Fathers. 

Such  is  our  cause,  nakedly  stated,  without  illustra- 
tion or  argument.  Strange  that  it  is  not  recognized  at 
once  by  every  patriot  heart !  Strange  that  we  should  be 
compelled  to  vindicate  it,  sometimes  against  open  foes, 
and  sometimes  —  harder  still  —  against  others  who  be- 
tray it  with  a  kiss  ! 

In  the  coming  election  this  cause  has  its  representa- 
tive in  Abraham  Lincoln.  And  why  has  he  been  se- 
lected ?  Not  solely  because  he  is  a  popular  favorite  in 
the  great  Northwest,  —  of  blameless  life,  of  unimpeach- 
able integrity,  of  acknowledged  abilities,  and  of  practi- 
cal talent,  all  of  which  are  unquestionable  recommenda- 
tions, shared,  however,  by  many  others,  —  but  because 
he  had  made  himself  the  determined  champion  of  the 
Prohibition  of  Slavery  in  the  Territories,  stating  the 
case  with  knowledge,  with  moderation,  and  yet  with 
firmness,  —  avowing  openly  his  hatred  of  Slavery, — 
likening  its  introduction  in  the  Territories  now  to  the 
Canada  thistle,  which  a  few  may  plant  to  the  detriment 
of  succeeding  generations,  and  then  again  to  snakes 
deposited  in  the  cradle  of  an  infant,  —  and  especially 
exposing  the  dishonest  invention  of  "Squatter  Sov- 


356        PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES. 

erei<mty,"  which  would  despoil  Congress  of  all  power 
over  this  subject,  and  transfer  it  to  the  distant  handful 
of  first  settlers. 

On  two  different  occasions  his  views  have  been  put 
forth  and  developed, — first,  in  elaborate  controversy  with 
Mr.  Douglas  in  Illinois,  and,  secondly,  in  his  well-known 
speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  New  York.  He  does  not 
need  my  praise  ;  nor  would  I  step  aside  from  my  argu- 
ment to  praise  anybody ;  but  I  may  fitly  call  attention 
to  this  masterly  address,  which,  in  careful  research, 
clearness  of  statement,  and  directness  of  purpose,  may 
well  compare  with  any  one  of  the  innumerable  speeches 
ever  made  concerning  the  power  of  Congress  over  the 
Territories.  On  the  topic  it  professes  to  treat  it  is  a 
monograph.  Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the 
effort  was  needed  in  establishing  his  title  to  that  public 
confidence  which  made  him  our  candidate.  It  is  for 
the  Prohibition  of  Slavery  in  the  Territories  that  he  has 
labored,  and,  excepting  his  brief,  but  honorable,  experi- 
ence in  Congress,  his  public  life  may  be  summed  up  in 
this  single  service,  —  nor  more  nor  less.  The  magni- 
tude of  the  service  may  be  measured  by  his  present 
position  as  representative  of  our  cause. 

Arrayed  in  opposition  are  three  other  candidates  for 
the  Presidency,  —  Bell,  Breckinridge,  and  Douglas,  — 
I  mention  them  in  alphabetical  order,  —  differing  super- 
ficially among  themselves,  but  all  concurring  in  friend- 
ship for  Slavery  and  in  withstanding  its  prohibition 
anywhere,  with  followers  ready,  in  warfare  against  the 
Republican  party,  to  coalesce  or  fuse  with  each  other. 
In  this  readiness  you  see  the  common  antagonism.  No 
person  in  the  Ptepublican  party  can  think  of  coalition 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES.          357 

or  fusion  with  either  of  these  three  parties ;  for  they 
each  and  all  represent  in  some  form  resistance  to  the 
Prohibition  of  Slavery,  and  therefore  must  be  opposed, 
each  and  all.  The  whole  trio  are  no  better  than  Mrs. 
Malaprop's  idea  of  Cerberus,  "  three  gentlemen  at  once," 
and  must  be  encountered  together. 

Looking  at  them  separately,  there  is,  first,  the  Bell 
party.  Pardon  me,  if  I  use  names  familiarly :  it  is  but 
for  the  sake  of  convenience.  This  party,  known  among 
us  only  by  its  boasts,  draws  its  practical  support  from 
the  Slave  States.  It  is  a  Proslavery  party,  —  essen- 
tially hostile  to  the  Prohibition  of  Slavery  in  the  Ter- 
ritories, and  dealing  always  in  treacherous  generalities, 
which,  if  they  have  any  meaning,  mean  Slavery, — ex- 
alting the  Constitution,  as  Slave-Masters  understand 
it,  —  also  exalting  the  Union,  in  order  to  gain  credit 
for  "saving"  it,  —  and  calling  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  laws,  meaning  the  enforcement  of  the  only  Act  of 
Congress  which  Slave-Masters  specially  recognize,  that 
for  the  surrender  of  fugitive  slaves.  Your  indulgence 
would  hardly  excuse  me,  if  I  occupied  time  in  argu- 
ment against  this  combination,  which,  without  declar- 
ing a  single  principle,  without  any  chance  of  a  majority 
in  the  electoral  colleges,  and  without  any  hope  of  a  sin- 
gle electoral  vote  in  the  Free  States,  runs  for  luck, — 
which,  with  only  a  single  possible  vote  in  the  House  of 
Eepresentatives,  where  it  seeks,  for  a  revolutionary  pur- 
pose, to  transfer  the  election,  again  proposes  to  run  for 
luck. 

Its  plan,  so  far  as  known,  is  this.  You  will  remem- 
ber, that,  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  event  of  failure  to  elect  by  the  people,  the  House 


358          PKES1DENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES. 

of  Representatives  is  empowered  to  choose  a  President 
out  of  the  three  highest  candidates  for  that  office,  and 
the  Senate  to  choose  a  Vice-President  out  of  the  two 
highest  candidates  for  that  office.  Now,  assuming,  first, 
that  the  Republican  candidate  will  not  be  elected  by  the 
people,  which  you  know  to  be  a  very  wild  assump- 
tion>  —  and,  secondly,  assuming  that  there  will  be  no 
election  of  President  by  the  House,  —  this  party,  turn- 
ing next  to  the  Vice-Presidency,  assumes,  thirdly,  that 
Mr.  Everett  will  be  one  of  the  two  highest  candidates 
for  the  Vice-Presidency,  and,  fourthly,  that  Mr.  Everett 
will  be  elected  by  the  Senate  Vice-President,  and  then 
will  become  President,  like  John  Tyler  and  Millard 
Fillmore,  —  not  through  the  death  of  a  President,  but 
through  a  double  failure  by  the  people  and  by  the  House. 
Such  is  the  calculation  by  which  this  band  of  professed 
Conservatives  seek  repose  for  the  country.  Permit 
me  to  say  that  it  is  equalled  only  by  the  extrava- 
gance of  Mrs.  Toodles,  in  the  farce.  Her  passion  was 
auctions,  where  she  purchased  ancient  articles  of  furni- 
ture under  the  idea  that  they  might  some  day  be  use- 
ful Once,  to  the  amazement  of  her  husband,  she 
brought  home  a  brass  door-plate  with  the  name  of 
Thompson  spelled  with  a  p.  "  But  what  is  this  for  ? " 
he  demanded.  "  Why,"  said  Mrs.  Toodles,  with  logic 
worthy  of  the  Bell  party,  "  though  we  have  been  mar- 
ried many  years  without  children,  it  is  possible,  my 
dear,  that  we  may  have  a  child,  that  child  may  be  a 
daughter,  and  may  live  to  the  age  of  maturity,  and  she 
may  marry  a  man  of  the  name  of  Thompson  spelled  with 
a  p.  Then  how  handy  it  will  be  to  have  this  door- 
plate  in  the  house!"  I  doubt,  if  any  person  really 
familiar  with  affairs  can  consider  this  nomination  for 


PRESIDENTIAL   CANDIDATES   AND   THE  ISSUES.       359 

the  Vice-Presidency  of  more  practical  value  than  Mrs. 
Toodles's  brass  door-plate,  with  the  name  of  Thompson 
spelled  with  a  p,  picked  up  at  an  auction.  But  then, 
in  a  certain  most  difficult  contingency  at  the  end  of  a 
long  line  of  contingencies,  how  handy  it  must  be  to  have 
it  in  the  house ! 

In  speaking  of  the  Breckinridge  party,  I  confess  my- 
self at  the  outset  perplexed  between  abhorrence  of  its 
dogma  and  respect  for  its  frankness.  No  plausible  gen- 
erality is  put  forward,  as  by  the  Bell  party,  under  which 
good  and  evil  may  alike  find  shelter ;  nor  is  any  plau- 
sible invention  announced,  as  in  the  case  of  yet  another 
party,  under  which  the  real  issue  is  avoided.  But  the 
insufferable  claim,  first  made  by  Mr.  Calhoun,  is  un- 
equivocally promulgated,  that  under  the  Constitution 
the  master  may  at  all  times  carry  his  slaves  into  the 
Territories,  and  neither  Congress  nor  Territorial  Legis- 
lature can  prohibit  the  outrage.  This  at  least  is  plain. 
There  is  something  even  in  criminal  boldness  which 
we  are  disposed  to  admire.  We  like  an  open  foe,  who 
scorns  to  hide  in  deceit,  and  meets  us  in  daylight.  But 
we  do  not  like  a  foe  who  dodges  and  hides  so  that 
we  cannot  find  him.  Nor  do  we  like  a  man  who 
gives  us  only  something  counterfeit  in  exchange  for 
our  votes.  We  do  not  like  the  double-faced  prevari- 
cator, who  cozens  both  sides,  and  deals  in  words  "  that 
palter  in  a  double  sense."  It  is  praise  to  be  frank, 
even  on  a  bad  side ;  and  I  have  no  reason  to  question 
this  merit  of  the  Breckinridge  party.  And  yet  this 
very  frankness  reveals  an  insensibility  to  reason  and 
humanity,  which,  when  recognized,  must  add  to  our 
abhorrence.  That  men  calling  themselves  Christians, 


360       PRESIDENTIAL   CANDIDATES   AND   THE   ISSUES. 

callin^  themselves  Americans,  in  this  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, should  without  a  blush  assert  such  a  dogma  may 
well  excite  our  wonder. 

Fully  to  appreciate  this  dogma,  you  must  know  and 
feel  what  Slavery  is.  And  here  I  content  myself  simply 
with  reminding  you  of  what  elsewhere  I  have  demon- 
strated, that  Slavery,  as  denned  by  existing  law,  is  a 
five-headed  Barbarism,  composed  of  five  different  wrongs, 
each  of  which  you  must  indignantly  reject:  first,  the 
impudent  claim  of  property  in  man  ;  secondly,  the  gross 
mockery  of  the  marriage-tie ;  thirdly,  the  absolute  nul- 
lification of  the  parental  relation ;  fourthly,  the  denial 
of  instruction;  and,  fifthly,  the  robbery  of  another's 
labor,  and  of  all  its  fruits  :  that  this  whole  five-headed 
Barbarism,  sustained  by  existing  law,  and  enforced  by 
the  lash,  is  simply  to  compel  labor  without  wages ;  and 
that  to  this  end  all  great  rights  of  freedom,  marriage, 
family,  instruction,  and  property  are  trampled  down. 
This  is  Slavery.  Turn  it  over,  look  at  it  as  you  will, 
such  it  is,  and  such  it  must  be  seen  to  be  by  every 
honest  mind. 

"  To  those  who  know  thee  not  no  words  can  paint, 
And  those  who  know  thee  know  all  words  are  faint." 

Believe  me,  fellow-citizens,  I  do  not  present  this  out- 
line willingly.  Gladly  would  I  drop  a  veil  over  the 
revolting  features.  But  when  audacious  claims  are 
made  for  Slavery,  and  you  are  told  by  one  candidate 
that  it  travels  with  the  Constitution  into  new  Terri- 
tories, and  then  by  another  candidate  that  the  hand- 
ful of  first  settlers  can  alone  deal  with  it  in  the  Ter- 
ritories, while  Congress  sits  powerless,  it  becomes  your 
duty  to  consider  precisely  what  Slavery  is,  to  study  it 
in  the  law  from  which  it  derives  its  character,  and  to 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND   THE   ISSUES.      361 

follow  it  also  in  all  its  effects.  Here  is  the  essential 
and  vital  part  of  the  argument,  even  on  the  question  of 
Constitutional  Law.  It  is  only  when  this  is  done  that 
we  can  see  how  irrational  is  every  effort  to  give  it  con- 
stitutional force,  or  to  save  it  from  the  action  of  Con- 
gress within  the  national  jurisdiction. 

According  to  the  claim  now  made,  Slavery  exists  un- 
der the  Constitution  everywhere  outside  the  States, — 
in  other  words,  Slavery  is  National;  whereas  just  the 
contrary  is  true.  Everywhere  outside  the  States  Free- 
dom must  prevail;  in  other  words,  Freedom  is  Na- 
tional. Yes,  Freedom  is  National,  and  Slavery  Sec- 
tional Read  the  Constitution,  and  tell  me  if  it  be 
not  so.  Surely,  if  a  pretension  so  peculiar  as  that  now 
set  up  could  be  found  there,  it  would  be  plain  to 
all,  so  that  no  man  could  question  it.  Like  the  Deca- 
logue, it  would  be  in  positive  language:  "Thou  shalt 
enslave  thy  brother  man."  It  would  be  left  to  no 
doubtful  phrase  or  ambiguous  words,  but  would  stand 
forth  in  appalling  certainty,  a  "darkness  visible."  It 
would  be  stuck  up,  like  Gessler's  hat  in  the  market- 
place, so  that  all  could  see  it.  But  nothing  is  clearer 
than  that  in  this  well-considered  instrument  there  is 
not  one  clause  or  word  which  maintains  property  in 
man,  not  one  clause  or  word  on  which  any  such  pre- 
tension can  be  founded.  Wherever  there  is  any  im- 
agined reference  to  slaves,  it  is  at  most  only  to  their 
possible  existence  in  States,  "under  the  laws  thereof"  ; 
and  then  their  designation  as  "persons"  shows,  that, 
whatever  may  be  their  condition  in  the  States,  the  Con- 
stitution does  not  regard  them  as  "  property."  Thank 
God,  the  Constitution  does  not  contain  the  idea  that 
man  can  be  the  property  of  man.  It  was  the  declared 


362        PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES. 

purpose  of  Mr.  Madison  to  exclude  this  idea.  So  com- 
pletely has  this  been  done,  that  it  is  among  boasts 
often  made,  that  a  stranger  in  a  distant  country  or 
a  future  age,  reading  our  Constitution,  and  having  no 
other  record  of  our  history,  would  not  know  that  any 
human  being  had  ever  been  claimed  as  "property" 
within  the  limits  of  the  Republic.  The  text,  at  least,  of 
the  Constitution  is  blameless.  If  men  find  Slavery 
there,  it  is  only  because  they  make  the  Constitution 
reflect  their  own  souls. 

And  yet  this  pretension  is  now  the  shibboleth  of  a 
great  political  party ;  this  is  its  single  inspiration ;  this 
is  its  only  principle ;  this  is  all  its  stock  in  trade ;  this 
is  its  very  "  breath  of  life."  To  this  base  use  has  De- 
mocracy come.  In  voting  for  Mr.  Breckinridge,  you 
declare,  first,  that  man  can  have  property  in  his  fellow- 
man,  and,  secondly,  that  such  property  is  recognized 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The  soul  re- 
coils from  both.  But  even  if  the  first  be  true,  —  which 
I  utterly  deny,  —  it  does  not  follow  that  such  property 
is  sanctioned  in  the  Constitution. 

Last  in  order  of  alphabet  is  the  Douglas  party,  whose 
single  cry  is  "  Popular  Sovereignty  "  ;  last  also  in  char- 
acter,—  for  who  can  respect  what  we  know  to  be  a 
deceit?  The  statesman  founds  himself  on  principles; 
sometimes  it  is  his  office  to  frame  expedients ;  but 
Popular  Sovereignty,  as  now  put  forward,  is  not  a  prin- 
ciple,—  oh,  no!  not  even  an  expedient;  it  is  nothing 
but  a  device,  a  pretext,  an  evasion,  a  dodge,  a  trick, 
in  order  to  avoid  the  commanding  question,  whether 
Slavery  shall  be  prohibited  in  the  Territories.  That 
is  all 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES.         363 

All  hail  to  Popular  Sovereignty  in  its  true  glory! 
This  is  the  grand  principle,  first  announced  in  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence,  which  is  destined  to  regener- 
ate the  world.  It  is  embodied  in  those  famous  words, 
adopted  by  the  Republican  Convention  at  Chicago,  that 
among  the  unalienable  rights  of  all  men  are  "life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  and  that  "to 
secure  these  rights  governments  are  instituted  among 
men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed."  These  are  sacred  words,  full  of  life-giving 
energy.  Not  simply  national  independence  was  here 
proclaimed,  but  also  the  primal  rights  of  all  mankind. 
Then  and  there  appeared  the  Angel  of  Human  Libera- 
tion, speaking  and  acting  at  once  with  heaven-born 
strength, — breaking  bolts,  unloosing  bonds,  and  open- 
ing prison-doors,  —  always  ranging  on  its  mighty  er- 
rand, wherever  there  are  any,  no  matter  of  what  coun- 
try or  race,  who  struggle  for  rights  denied,  —  now  cheer- 
ing Garibaldi  at  Naples,  as  it  had  cheered  Washington 
in  the  snows  of  Valley  Forge,  —  and  especially  visiting 
all  who  are  down-trodden,  whispering  that  there  is  none 
so  poor  as  to  be  without  rights  which  every  man  is 
bound  to  respect. 

"  The  affrighted  gods  confessed  their  awful  lord ; 
They  dropped  the  fetters,  trembled,  and  adored." 1 

None  so  degraded  as  to  be  beneath  its  beneficent  reach, 
none  so  lofty  as  to  be  above  its  restraining  power; 
while  before  it  Despotism  and  Oligarchy  fall  on  their 
faces,  like  the  image  of  Dagon,  and  the  people  every- 
where begin  to  govern  themselves.  Such  is  the  Popu- 
lar Sovereignty  proclaimed  by  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

1  Iliad,  tr.  Pope,  Book  I.  628,  529  [406]. 


364        PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES. 

But  the  Great  Declaration,  not  content  with  an- 
nouncin"  certain  rights  as  unalienable,  and  therefore 
beyond  the  control  of  any  government,  still  further,  re- 
strains the  sovereignty,  which  it  asserts,  by  simply  de- 
claring that  the  United  States  have  "  full  power  to  do 
all  acts  and  things  which  independent  states  may  OF 
EIGHT  do."  Here  is  a  well-defined  limitation  upon 
Popular  Sovereignty.  The  dogma  of  Tory  lawyers  and 
pamphleteers  —  put  forward  to  sustain  the  claim  of  Par- 
liamentary omnipotence,  and  vehemently  espoused  by 
Dr.  Johnson  in  his  "  Taxation  no  Tyranny  " — was,  open- 
ly, that  sovereignty  is  in  its  nature  illimitable,  precisely 
as  is  now  loosely  professed  by  Mr.  Douglas  for  his  hand- 
ful of  squatters.  But  this  dogma  is  distinctly  discarded 
in  the  Declaration,  and  it  is  frankly  proclaimed  that  all 
sovereignty  is  subordinate  to  the  rule  of  Right.  Mark, 
now,  the  difference.  All  existing  governments  at  that 
time,  even  the  local  governments  of  the  Colonies, 
stood  on  Power,  without  limitation.  Here  was  a  new 
government,  which,  taking  its  place  among  the  nations, 
announced  that  it  stood  only  on  Eight,  and  claimed  no 
sovereignty  inconsistent  with  Eight.  Such,  again,  is 
the  Popular  Sovereignty  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

And  yet  this  transcendent  principle  is  now  degraded 
into  a  "  dodge,"  and  the  sacred  name  of  Popular  Sov- 
ereignty is  prostituted  to  cover  the  claim  of  a  master 
over  his  slave.  It  is  urged  that  a  handful  of  squatters 
may  rightfully  decide  this  claim,  and  the  time-honored 
traditional  power  of  Congress  over  Slavery  in  the  Ter- 
ritories is  denied  or  voted  down.  To  protect  this  "  vil- 
lany,"  as  John  Wesley  would  call  it,  the  right  of  the, 
people  to  govern  themselves  is  invoked,  —  forgetful  that 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES.        365 

this  divine  right  can  give  no  authority  to  enslave 
others,  that  even  the  people  are  not  omnipotent,  and 
that  never  do  they  rise  so  high  as  when,  recognizing 
the  everlasting  laws  of  Eight,  they  bend  to  the  behests 
of  Justice. 

Though  bearing  the  name  of  Mr.  Douglas,  and  now- 
peddled  through  the  country  by  him,  this  contrivance 
is  not  of  his  invention.  It  comes  from  an  older  head. 
It  first  showed  itself  in  the  Nicholson  Letter  of  1847, 
by  which  General  Cass,  as  Presidential  candidate,  sought 
to  avoid  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  Laborious,  studious,  ex- 
emplary in  private  life,  and  fertile  in  pretexts,  this  ven- 
erable character  has  afforded  the  formula  by  which  men 
have  voted  for  Slavery,  while  making  professions  for 
Freedom.  He  is  author  of  the  artifice  —  rejected  by 
every  Slave-Master,  and  rejected  by  every  lover  of  Free- 
dom, whose  eyes  are  open  —  which,  under  the  nick- 
name of  Squatter  Sovereignty,  has  been  the  device  of 
doughfaces,  enabling  them  sometimes  to  deceive  the 
public  and  sometimes  even  to  deceive  themselves. 
Owing  to  the  peculiar  condition  of  opinion  at  that 
time,  not  yet  stiffened  against  the  compromise  of  Hu- 
man Rights,  his  very  vacillation  put  him  in  harmony 
with  the  public,  and  gave  him  a  commanding  position. 
Once  for  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  which  asserted  the  power 
of  Congress  over  the  Territories,  and  then  for  a  pre- 
tended Popular  Sovereignty,  which  denied  this  power, 
he  became  the  pendulum  between  Freedom  and  Slavery, 
and,  thus  swinging,  imparted  motion  to  a  sham  Democ- 
racy. 

The  device  next  showed  itself  on  the  passage  of  the 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  Bill ;  and  here  it  became  a  trick, 
as  appears  by  open  confession  of  one  of  the  parties 


306        PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES. 

to  it? and  a  trick  it  has  continued  ever  since.     It  was 

proposed  to  repeal  the  old  Prohibition  of  Slavery  in  the 
Missouri  Territory,  established  as  part  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  But  instead  of  doing  this  openly  and 
precisely,  by  simple  words  of  repeal,  language  was  in- 
vented to  mystify  the  whole  question.  Then  appeared 
that  "  little  stump  speech  injected  in  the  belly  of  the 
bill,"  according  to  Colonel  Benton,  declaring  that  the 
intent  was  to  leave  the  people  "perfectly  free  to  form 
and  regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own 
way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States."  As  in  the  gray  of  the  morning  the  fatal  bill 
containing  these  words  passed,  General  Cass,  rising  from 
his  seat,  —  I  remember  well  the  scene,  —  exclaimed, 
"  This  is  the  triumph  of  Squatter  Sovereignty ! "  The 
old  Prohibition  of  Slavery  was  overthrown,  and  his 
Nicholson  Letter  was  vindicated. 

And  now  note  well  the  trick.  The  Slave-Masters 
who  voted  for  these  words  rejected  with  scorn  the  idea 
that  the  handful  of  squatters  could  exclude  Slavery. 
According  to  them,  Slavery  went  with  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  was  beyond  the  control  of  squatters.  But  for- 
mal assertion  of  this  dogma  would  have  caused  trouble, 
and  it  was  accordingly  disguised  in  these  familiar 
words, —  "  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Unit- 
ed States."  Mr.  Benjamin,  of  Louisiana,  in  a  recent 
speech,  lets  us  behind  the  scenes.  He  tells,  that,  at 
a  caucus  of  Senators,  "both  wings  of  the  Democracy 
agreed  that  each  should  maintain  its  particular  theory 
before  the  public,  —  one  side  sustaining  Squatter  Sover- 
eignty, and  the  other  Protection  to  Slavery  in  the  Terri- 
tories, but  pledging  themselves  to  abide  by  the  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  whatever  it  might  be."  Such  was 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES.         367 

the  secret  conspiracy,  concealed  for  a  long  time  from 
the  public,  and  only  recently  revealed.  And  Mr.  Doug- 
las was  a  party  to  it. 

Had  the  Popular  Sovereignty  of  Mr.  Douglas  been  a 
reality  and  not  a  sham,  had  it  been  a  sincere  recogni- 
tion of  popular  rights  instead  of  a  trick  to  avoid  their 
recognition,  he  could  not  have  been  party  to  such  decep- 
tion. But  how  was  the  fact  ?  While  professing  Popu- 
lar Sovereignty,  what  did  his  bill  really  confer  upon 
the  people  ?  Not  the  right  to  organize  their  own  gov- 
ernment, determining  for  themselves  its  form  and  char- 
acter ;  for  all  this  was  done  by  Act  of  Congress.  Not 
the  right  to  choose  the  Executive ;  for  the  Governor 
and  all  other  officers  in  this  department  were  sent  from 
Washington,  nominated  by  the  President.  Not  the 
right  to  nominate  the  Judiciary ;  for  the  judges  were 
also  sent  from  Washington,  nominated  by  the  Presi- 
dent. Not  even  the  right  completely  to  constitute  the 
Legislature;  for  even  this  body  was  placed  in  many 
important  respects  beyond  the  popular  control.  Thus 
in  each  of  the  three  great  departments  of  State,  Ex- 
ecutive, Judicial,  and  Legislative,  is  Popular  Sovereignty 
disowned. 

Search  the  "  Congressional  Globe "  during  the  Ne- 
braska debate,  and  you  will  see  with  what  sincerity 
Mr.  Douglas  guarded  the  much  vaunted  rights  of  the 
people.  Mr.  Chase  moved  to  allow  the  people  to  elect 
their  Governor  and  other  officers.  On  the  vote  by  ayes 
and  noes,  the  champion  of  Popular  Sovereignty  voted 
No.  Mr.  Chase,  whose  effort  to  unmask  this  hypocrisy 
was  indefatigable,  made  another  motion,  which  put  Mr. 
Douglas  still  more  to  the  test.  After  the  words  of  alleged 
Popular  Sovereignty  in  the  bill,  he  moved  to  add, 


368        PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES. 

"  under  which  the  people  of  the  Territory,  through  their 
appropriate  representatives,  may,  if  they  see  fit,  prohibit 
the  existence  of  Slavery  therein."  Here  was  a  plain 
proposition.  On  the  vote  by  ayes  and  noes,  Mr.  Doug- 
las and  his  associates  again  voted  No.  His  recent 
excuse,  put  forth  in  his  single  peripatetic  speech,  is, 
that  the  proposition  was  not  in  the  alternate,  —  that  is, 
that  it  gave  power  only  to  exclude,  and  not  to  admit. 
But  if  he  really  favored  it  in  that  form,  why  not  move 
to  amend  it  by  adding  the  power  to  admit,  instead  of 
voting  against  the  whole  proposition  ?  It  is  clear  that 
such  an  open  and  unequivocal  declaration  was  not  con- 
genial with  the  game  to  be  played. 

The  bill  passed,  and  then  came  other  opportunities  to 
test  the  sincerity  of  the  present  knight-errant  of  Popu- 
lar Sovereignty.  Under  its  provisions  commenced  at 
once  a  race  of  emigration  into  the  new  Territories,  and 
there  Free  Labor  and  Slave  Labor  grappled.  Lovers  of 
Freedom  from  the  North  were  encountered  by  partisans 
of  Slavery  from  the  South,  organized  by  Blue  Lodges  in 
Missouri,  and  incited  from  every  part  of  the  Land  of 
Slavery.  The  officials  of  a  government  established  un- 
der pretended  safeguards  of  Popular  Sovereignty  all 
ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  Slavery ;  or,  if  their 
allegiance  became  doubtful,  —  as  in  the  case  of  Gov- 
ernor Pieeder, —  they  were  dismissed,  and  more  avail- 
able tools  sent  instead.  I  spare  details.  You  cannot 
forget  that  winter  and  spring  preceding  the  Presidential 
election  of  1856,  when  we  were  alternately  startled 
and  stunned  at  tidings  from  Kansas,  as  a  body  of 
strangers  from  Missouri,  entering  in  hundreds,  forcibly 
seized  the  polls,  and,  under  pretended  forms  of  law,  set 
up  a  Usurpation,  which  by  positive  legislation  pro- 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES.        369 

ceeded  to  establish  Slavery  there,  and  to  surround  it 
with  a  Code  of  Death.  The  atrocity  of  Philip  the  Sec- 
ond, when,  by  violence  and  through  a  "  Council  of 
Blood,"  he  sought  to  fasten  the  Inquisition  upon  Hol- 
land, was  'renewed.  Invasion,  rapine,  outrage,  arson, 
rape,  murder,  the  scalping-knife,  were  the  agents  now 
employed;  and  to  crown  this  prostration  of  popular 
rights,  Lawrence,  home  of  New  England  settlers,  and 
microcosm  of  New  England  life,  was  burned  to  the 
ground  by  a  company  of  profane  and  drunken  ruffians 
stimulated  from  Washington. 

What  then  was  the  course  of  the  champion  of  Popu- 
lar Sovereignty  ?  Did  he  thunder  and  lighten  ?  Did 
he  come  forward  to  defend  those  settlers,  who  had 
gone  to  Kansas  under  pretended  safeguards  of  his 
bill  ?  Oh,  no  !  In  the  Senate  he  openly  ranged  him- 
self on  the  side  of  their  oppressors,  mocked  at  their 
calamities,  denounced  them  as  "insurgents,"  insulted 
their  agents,  and  told  them  they  must  submit,  —  while 
the  distant  Emigrant  Aid  Society  in  Massachusetts  was 
made  the  butt  of  his  most  opprobrious  assaults.  All 
this  I  myself  witnessed. 

Then  came  another  scene,  with  which,  owing  to  my 
enforced  absence  from  the  Senate,  as  an  invalid,  I  have 
less  personal  familiarity ;  but  it  is  known  to  all  of  you. 
The  Senatorial  election  in  Illinois  was  at  hand,  when 
Mr.  Douglas  suddenly  discovered  that  Popular  Sov- 
ereignty was  something  more  than  a  name.  He  op- 
posed the  Lecompton  Constitution ;  but  my  distin- 
guished colleague  [Mr.  WILSON]  will  tell  you  that  even 
there  he  was  kept  from  barefaced  apostasy  only  by  the 
stern  will  and  indomitable  principle  of  the  lamented 
Broderick,  the  murdered  Senator  from  California. 
TOL.  vi.  — 24 


370        PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES. 

Then  came  stump  speeches  and  Senate  speeches  with- 
out number,  and  a  magazine  article,  all  to  explain  Popu- 
lar Sovereignty.  But  this  simple  principle,  which,  in 
the  light  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  also 
in  the  light  of  reason,  is  plain  enough,  has  been  so 
twisted,  turned,  and  befogged,  now  explained  away  and 
then  explained  back,  now  enlarged  and  then  limited/ 
now  acknowledged  and  then  denied,  that  I  challenge 
any  person  to  say  with  certainty  in  what,  according  to 
Mr.  Douglas,  it  really  consists. 

At  one  time  we  find  him  declaring  that  "  Slavery  is 
the  creature  of  local  law,  and  not  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States."  Good !  Let  him  follow  this  to  its 
natural  conclusion,  and  no  Eepublican  asks  more. 

Then,  at  New  Orleans,  after  his  election  to  the  Senate 
was  secured,  he  says :  "  The  Democracy  of  Illinois  ac- 
cept the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  in  the  case  of  Dred  Scott  as  an  authoritative 
interpretation  of  the  Constitution.  In  accordance  with 
that  decision,  we  hold  that  slaves  are  property,  and 
hence  on  an  equality  with  all  other  kinds  of  property, 
and  that  the  owner  of  a  slave  has  the  same  right  to 
move  into  a  Territory  and  carry  his  slave  property  with 
him  as  the  owner  of  any  other  property  has  to  go  there 
and  carry  his  property."  Here  is  the  extreme  dogma 
of  Slavery  in  full  feather.  Let  him  follow  this  to  its 
natural  conclusion,  and  no  Breckinridge  man  could  ask 
more. 

At  another  time  we  find  him  declaring  that  "  sover- 
eign States  have  the  right  to  make  their  own  constitu- 
tions and  establish  their  own  governments,  but  that  he 
has  never  claimed  these  powers  for  the  Territories,  nor 
has  he  ever  failed  to  resist  such  claims,  when  set  up  by 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES.         371 

others."  How,  then,  under  this  theory,  can  Popular 
Sovereignty  have  any  foothold  in  the  Territories  ?  It 
is  clear  that  all  Territorial  legislation  against  Slavery 
must  be  invalid. 

And  then  again,  in  another  place,  by  roundabout 
language,  he  admits,  that,  according  to  the  Dred  Scott 
decision,  which  he  declares  that  he  "  approves,"  the  peo- 
ple of  a  Territory  cannot,  by  any  legislation,  confiscate 
slave  property,  or  impair  the  "  Constitutional  right "  of 
the  master  to  this  property  in  the  Territory.  With  this 
limitation,  pray,  where,  again,  is  Popular  Sovereignty  ? 

But  elsewhere,  as  if  to  furnish  something  for  the 
other  side,  he  intimates  a  policy  of  inaction  by  the 
Territorial  Legislature  with  regard  to  Slavery,  and  asks, 
"  Would  not  the  inaction  of  the  local  Legislature,  its 
refusal  to  provide  a  Slave  Code,  or  to  punish  offences 
against  that  species  of  property,  exclude  Slavery  just  as 
effectually  as  a  Constitutional  prohibition  ?  "  And  here 
is  an  end  of  the  matter. 

Changing  forms  as  often  as  Proteus,  we  yet  find  him 
admitting,  first,  that  Slavery  goes  into  the  Territories 
under  the  Constitution ;  secondly,  that  the  right  of  prop- 
erty in  a  slave  cannot  be  destroyed  by  the  Territorial 
Legislature;  and  all  that  this  Legislature  can  do,  by 
way  of  opposition,  is  to  fold  its  hands  and  to  seal  its 
tongue  in  inaction.  What,  then,  is  this  wonderful  doc- 
trine ?  So  far  as  it  means  anything,  it  is  simply  this : 
that  the  people  of  a  Territory  have  a  right  to  intro- 
duce Slavery,  but  not  to  prohibit  it  And  such  is 
Popular  Sovereignty !  Verily,  between  this  and  the 
Breckinridge  dogma  there  is  about  the  same  difference 
as  between  the  much-vexed  doctrines  of  Transubstan- 
tiation  and  Consubstantiation,  where  there  was  only 


372        PKESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES. 

the  difference  of  a  single  syllable,  and  both  involved 
the  same  thing. 

Nor  is  even  this  all.  The  Convention  at  Baltimore 
which  nominated  Mr.  Douglas  has  declared  by  formal 
resolution,  that  "  the  measure  of  restriction,  whatever  it 
may  be,  imposed  by  the  Federal  Constitution  on  the 
power  of  the  Territorial  Legislature  over  the  subject  of 
the  domestic  relations,  as  the  same  has  been  or  shall 
hereafter  be  finally  determined  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  should  be  respected  by  all  good 
citizens,  and  enforced  with  promptness  mid  fidelity  by 
every  branch  of  the  General  Government."  And  Mr. 
Douglas,  in  accepting  his  nomination,  has  expressly 
recognized  this  doctrine,  thus  in  advance  delivering 
over  his  bantling  Popular  Sovereignty  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

Far  different  is  the  position  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  has 
openly  said,  in  his  debate  with  Mr.  Douglas,  "  If  I  were 
in  Congress,  and  a  vote  should  come  up  on  a  question 
whether  Slavery  should  be  prohibited  in  a  new  Terri- 
tory, in  spite  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  I  would  vote 
that  it  should.  That  is  what  I  would  do."1  And  allow 
me  to  add,  that  this  doctrine  of  Mr.  Lincoln  is  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Eepublican  party.  Any  doctrine  short  of 
this  betrays  the  trick  of  Mr.  Douglas. 

The  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits,  and  if  anything 
further  were  needed  to  expose  this  cheat  of  Popular 
Sovereignty,  it  might  be  found  in  its  fruits  as  boast- 
ed by  Mr.  Douglas.  A  slave  code  most  revolting  in 
character  had  been  adopted  by  the  Territorial  Legis- 
lature of  New  Mexico,  not  only  establishing  Slavery 

1  Speech  at  Chicago,  July  10,  1858:   Political  Debates  between  Hon. 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  p.  20. 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES.         373 

there,  including  the  serfdom  of  whites,  but  prohibiting 
Emancipation.  Through  the  generous  activity  of  the 
Kepublicans,  and  in  the  exercise  of  a  just  Congres- 
sional intervention,  a  bill  passed  the  House  of  Bepre- 
sentatives  annulling  this  slave  code.  While  the  bill 
was  on  the  table  of  the  Senate,  attesting  at  once  the 
disposition  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  to  inter- 
fere against  Slavery,  and  also  the  signal  necessity  of 
such  interference,  Mr.  Douglas  took  occasion  to  make 
his  boasts.  Surrounded  by  the  chiefs  of  Proslavery 
Democracy,  the  juggler  of  Popular  Sovereignty  thus 
showed  what  the  trick  had  done  for  Slavery.  Here 
are  his  words:  — 

"It  is  part  of  the  history  of  the  country,  that,  under  this 
doctrine  of  Non-intervention,  this  doctrine  that  you  delight 
to  call  Squatter  Sovereignty,  the  people  of  New  Mexico  have 
introduced  and  protected  Slavery  in  the  whole  of  that  Ter- 
ritory. Under  this  doctrine,  they  have  converted  a  tract  of 
Free  Territory  into  Slave  Territory  more  than  Jive  times  the  size 
of  the  State  of  New  York.  Under  this  doctrine,  Slavery  has 
been  extended  from  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  Gulf  of  California, 
and  from  the  line  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  not  only  up 
to  36°  30',  but  up  to  38°,  giving  you  a  degree  and  a  half  more 
Slave  Territory  than  you  ever  claimed"  1 

As  the  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits,  so  also  is  the  man 
known  by  the  company  he  keeps.  At  first  associated 
with  Mr.  Douglas  on  the  same  ticket,  as  candidate  for 
the  Vice-Presidency,  was  Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  of  Alabama, 
belonging  to  the  school  of  Slave  Propagandists,  and 
fresh  from  voting  in  the  Senate  against  Popular  Sov- 
ereignty ;  and  when  he  declined,  his  place  was  supplied 

i  Speech  in  the  Senate,  May  16,  1860:  Congressional  Globe,  86th  Cong. 
1st  Sess.,  Appendix,  p.  314. 


374      PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND   THE  ISSUES. 

by  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Georgia,  also  belonging  to  the 
school  of  Slave  Propagandists,  who  from  the  beginning 
has  denounced  Popular  Sovereignty,  and  insisted  that 
"  it  is  the  right  of  the  South  to  demand,  and  the  duty  of 
Congress  to  extend,  protection  to  Slavery  in  the  Terri- 
tories during  the  Territorial  state,"  and  who,  at  Phila- 
delphia, in  a  public  speech,  did  not  hesitate  to  insult 
the  mechanics  and  working-men  of  the  country  by  the 
insolent  declaration  that  "Capital  should  own  Labor." 
Such  is  the  associate  of  Mr.  Douglas,  with  whom  he  is 
so  united  as  candidate  that  you  cannot  vote  for  one 
without  voting  for  the  other.  One  of  his  earnest  sup- 
porters in  the  Convention  at  Baltimore,  Mr.  Gauldeu, 
of  Georgia,  pressed  the  opening  of  the  slave-trade  with 
Africa  on  the  very  grounds  of  Popular  Sovereignty 
and  Non-intervention.  After  declaring,  that,  "  if  it  be 
right  to  go  to  Virginia  and  buy  a  negro  and  pay  two 
thousand  dollars  for  him,  it  is  equally  right  to  go  to 
Africa,  where  we  can  get  them  for  fifty  dollars,"  he 
said,  that,  "if  the  Southern  men  had  the  spunk  and 
spirit  to  come  right  up  and  face  the  North,  he  believed 
the  Northern  Democracy,  at  least,  would  come  to  the 
true  doctrine  of  Popular  Sovereignty  and  Non-interven- 
tion." This  barbarous  utterance  was  received  by  the 
Douglas  Convention  with  "  applause  and  laughter." 
Such  are  the  men  with  whom  this  candidate  is  associ- 
ated. 

If  you  follow  Mr.  Douglas  in  his  various  speeches, 
you  cannot  fail  to  be  shocked  by  the  heartlessness  of 
his  language.  Never  in  history  has  any  public  man 
insulted  human  nature  so  boldly.  At  the  North  he 
announces  himself  as  "  always  for  the  white  man  against 
the  nigger,"  but  at  the  South  he  is  "for  the  nigger 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES.      375 

against  the  alligator."  It  was  natural  that  such  a  man, 
who  thus  mocked  at  a  portion  of  God's  creation  made 
in  the  Divine  image,  should  say,  "  Vote  Slavery  up  or 
vote  it  down,"  —  as  if  the  idea  of  voting  it  up  were  not 
impious  and  never  to  be  endured.  Beyond  all  doubt, 
no  majority  can  be  permitted  to  vote  that  fellow-men 
shall  be  bought  and  sold  like  cattle.  The  pretension 
is  preposterous,  aggravated  by  knowledge  on  his  part 
that  under  his  device  the  settlers  could  only  vote 
Slavery  up,  and  that  they  were  not  allowed  to  vote  it 
down.  But  this  speech  attests  a  brazen  insensibility 
to  Human  Eights.  Not  so  spoke  the  Fathers  of  the 
Eepublic,  who  would  not  let  us  miss  an  opportunity 
to  vote  Slavery  down.  Not  so  spoke  Washington, 
who  declared  that  to  the  abolition  of  Slavery  "  his  suf- 
frage should  never  be  wanting."  Such  is  the  whole 
political  philosophy  of  this  Presidential  candidate.  A 
man  thus  indifferent  to  the  rights  of  a  whole  race  is 
naturally  indifferent  to  other  things  which  make  for 
justice  and  peace. 

Again  he  cries  out,  that  the  Slavery  agitation  is  in 
the  way  of  public  business,  and  that  it  must  be  re- 
moved from  Congress.  But  who  has  thrust  it  there 
so  incessantly  as  himself?  Nay,  who  so  largely  as 
himself  has  been  the  occasion  of  its  appearance  ?  His 
complaint  illustrates  anew  the  old  fable.  It  was  the 
wolf  above  that  troubled  the  waters,  and  not  the 
lamb  below.  It  is  the  Slave  Propagandists  —  among 
whom  the  champion  of  Popular  Sovereignty  must  find 
a  place — who,  from  the  Missouri  Compromise  in  1820, 
through  all  the  different  stages  of  discussion,  down  to 
the  shutting  out  of  Kansas  as  a  Free  State  at  the 
recent  session,  have  rendered  it  impossible  to  avoid  the 


376      PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES. 

exciting  subject.  By  dishonest,  audacious  theories  of 
Slavery,  both  morally  and  constitutionally,  they  have 
aroused  a  natural  opposition,  and  put  all  who  truly 
love  their  country  on  the  defensive.  Yes,  it  is  in  de- 
fence of  the  Constitution  perverted,  of  reason  insulted, 
and  of  humanity  disowned,  that  we  are  obliged  to 
speak  out. 

True,  the  country  needs  repose ;  —  but  it  is  the  re- 
pose of  Liberty,  and  not  the  repose  of  Despotism.  And, 
believe  me,  that  glad  day  can  never  come,  until  the 
mad  assumptions  for  Slavery  are  all  rejected,  and  the 
Government  is  once  more  brought  back  to  the  spirit 
of  the  founders.  It  was  clearly  understood  at  the 
beginning  that  Congress  could  not  touch  Slavery  in 
the  States ;  and  this  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Eepublican 
party  now.  But  it  was  also  clearly  understood  at  the 
beginning  that  Slavery  everywhere  else  was  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  Congress ;  and  this  also  is  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Eepublican  party  now.  With  the  practical 
acceptance  of  these  two  correlative  principles  the  Slav- 
ery Question  will  cease  to  agitate  Congress  and  to  di- 
vide political  parties.  Transferred  to  the  more  tran- 
quil domain  of  morals,  religion,  economy,  and  philan- 
thropy, it  must  continue  to  occupy  the  attention  of 
the  good  and  the  humane ;  but  it  will  cease  to  be  the 
stumbling-block  of  politicians.  Not  until  then  is  it 
permitted  us  to  expect  that  Sabbath  of  repose  so  much 
longed  for. 

The  first  stage  in  securing  for  our  country  the  repose 
which  all  covet  will  be  the  election  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln as  President,  and  the  election  of  that  well-tried, 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND   THE  ISSUES.      377 

faithful,  and  able  Senator,  —  whom  I  know  well,  — 
Hannibal  Hamlin,  as  Vice-President.  I  do  not  dwell  on 
all  that  will  then  follow,  —  homesteads  for  actual  set- 
tlers, improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors,  economy  and 
purity  in  the  National  Administration,  increased  means 
of  communication,  postal  and  commercial,  with  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  Pacific  Eailroad ;  nor  do  I  dwell  on  the 
extirpation  of  the  direful  African  slave-trade,  now  thriv- 
ing anew  under  our  national  flag,  —  nor  on  our  relations 
with  foreign  countries,  destined  to  assume  that  char- 
acter of  moderation  and  firmness  which  becomes  a  great 
republic,  neither  menacing  the  weak  nor  stooping  to 
the  proud,  and,  while  sympathizing  with  generous  en- 
deavors for  Freedom  everywhere,  avoiding  all  complicity 
with  schemes  of  lawless  violence.  Ask  the  eminent 
Boston  merchant,  Mr.  Clark,  whose  avocation  makes 
him  know  so  well  the  conduct  of  our  Government  with 
Hayti,  if  there  is  not  need  of  change  in  our  course 
toward  a  humble  people,  in  order  to  save  ourselves 
from  the  charge  of  national  meanness,  if  not  of  na- 
tional injustice  ?  But  it  is  by  this  election  that  you 
will  especially  vindicate  the  Prohibition  of  Slavery  in 
the  Territories,  even  in  the  face  of  the  Dred  Scott 
decision,  and  fling  your  indignant  answer  at  once  at 
the  Proslavery  non-committalism  of  Bell,  the  Proslav- 
ery  dogma  of  Breckinridge,  and  the  Proslavery  dodge 
of  Douglas. 

All  this  can  be  done,  nay,  will  be  done.  But  let  me 
not  beguile  you.  The  ancient  price  of  Liberty  was  vigi- 
lance ;  and  this  price  has  not  diminished  of  late  years, 
especially  when  surrounded  by  men  accustomed  to 
power  and  stimulated  by  rage.  Already  the  news  has 
reached  us  of  combinations  to  consolidate  the*  Opposi- 


378      PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND   THE   ISSUES. 

tjon  as  we  read  that  of  old  two  inveterate  parties 

among  the  Jews  were  reconciled.  "The  same  day," 
writes  the  sacred  historian,  "Pilate  and  Herod  were 
made  friends  together;  for  before  they  were  at  enmi- 
ty between  themselves."  This  example  is  too  kindred 
not  to  be  adopted.  Already,  also,  we  hear  of  devices 
at  a  distance,  and  even  near  at  home,  to  distract  our 
friends,  by  producing  distrust  either  of  our  principles 
or  of  our  candidate.  At  one  time  it  is  said  that  the 
principle  of  Prohibition  is  a  mistake,  —  and  then  again, 
by  natural  consequence,  that  our  candidate  is  not  suffi- 
ciently moderate. 

Fellow-citizens,  hearken  not  to  any  of  these  things. 
Keep  the  Prohibition  of  Slavery  in  the  Territories  as  the 
fixed  and  irreversible  purpose  of  your  hearts,  and  insist 
that  it  shall  be  established  by  Congress;  for  without 
Congress  it  may  not  be  established.  Old  Cato  procured 
a  decree  of  the  Eoman  Senate  that  no  king  should  ever 
enter  Rome,  saying  that  "a  king  is  a  carnivorous  ani- 
mal." A  similar  decree  must  be  adopted  by  Congress 
against  an  animal  more  carnivorous  than  king.  In 
upholding  this  paramount  necessity,  I  utter  nothing 
new.  During  the  debate  on  the  Nebraska  Bill,  my 
eminent  colleague  at  that  time  in  the  Senate,  Mr. 
Everett,  now  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  while 
approving  the  Prohibition,  allowed  himself  to  dispar- 
age its  importance.  With  the  convictions  which  are 
mine,  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  reply,  kindly,  but  most  stren- 
uously. After  exhibiting  the  efficacy  of  the  Prohibition, 
I  said:  — 

"  Surely  this  cannot  be  treated  lightly.  But  I  am  un- 
willing to  measure  the  exigency  of  the  Prohibition  by  the 
number  of  persons,  whether  many  or  few,  whom  it  may 


PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES  AND  THE  ISSUES.      379 

protect.  Human  rights,  whether  in  a  multitude  or  the 
solitary  individual,  are  entitled  to  equal  and  unhesitating 
support.  In  this  spirit,  the  flag  of  our  country  only  re- 
cently became  the  impenetrable  panoply  of  a  homeless 
wanderer  who  claimed  its  protection  in  a  distant  sea ;  and, 
in  this  spirit,  I  am  constrained  to  declare  that  there  is  no 
place  accessible  to  human  avarice  or  human  lust  or  human 
force,  whether  the  lowest  valley  or  the  loftiest  mountain- 
top,  whether  the  broad  flower-spangled  prairies  or  the  snowy 
caps  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where  the  Prohibition  of 
Slavery,  like  the  Commandments  of  the  Decalogue,  should 
not  go." 1 

And  these  words,  uttered  more  than  six  years  ago,  are 
still  of  vital,  practical  force.  The  example  of  Delaware 
shows  how  little  Slavery  it  takes  to  make  a  Slave  State, 
giving  two  votes  to  the  ascendency  of  the  Slave  Power 
in  the  Senate.  Be  wakeful,  then,  and  do  not  disparage 
that  enemy  which  for  sixty  years  has  ruled  the  Re- 
public. "  That  man  is  dangerous,"  exclaimed  the  Athe- 
nian orator,  "  who  does  not  see  danger  in  Philip."  And 
I  now  say,  that  man  is  dangerous  who  does  not  see 
danger  in  the  Slave  Power. 

When  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  and  saw 
that  his  work  was  good,  he  did  not  destine  his  creature 
for  endless  ages  to  labor  without  wages,  compelled  by 
the  lash.  Such  degradation  we  seek  to  arrest  by  care- 
ful measures  under  the  Constitution.  And  this  is  the 
cause  of  which  your  candidate  is  the  generous  and  no- 
ble representative.  Stand  by  him.  Let  not  fidelity  to 
those  principles  which  give  dignity  and  glory  to  Massa- 
chusetts, and  to  our  common  country,  be  an  argument 
against  him.  From  the  malignity  of  enemies,  from  the 

1  The  Landmark  of  Freedom  :  ante,  Vol.  ITJ.  p.  291. 


380      PRESIDENTIAL   CANDIDATES   AND   THE   ISSUES. 

vacillation  of  timeservers,  and  from  the  weakness  of 
friends  shield  him  by  your  votes.  Make  him  strong  to 
commence  the  great  work  by  which  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  shall  become  a  living  letter,  and  the  ways 
of  Providence  shall  be  justified  to  men. 

"  If  yet  ye  are  not  lost  to  common  sense, 
Assist  your  patriot  in  your  own  defence ; 
That  stupid  cant,  '  He  went  too  far,'  despise, 
And  know  that  to  be  brave  is  to  be  wise."  * 

1  Swift,  To  the  Citizens,  30  -  33.  These  words  were  introduced  to  sus- 
tain not  merely  the  speaker,  but  also  John  A.  Andrew,  who  was  about 
to  be  nominated  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  against  whom  this  very 
accusation  had  been  made. 


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